People’s Market the Arts Hub.
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My comment is as follows:-
The Council is pursuing this path because:
1. There is “free” funding available and to not use it is to lose it.
2. Because the Council feels that there is a greater Arts requirement in the town and that the so-called foot-flow figures provides support.
3. Costs can be contained by a co-habitation with another entity (the Peoples Market) and revenue streams are calculated to cover costs.
4. Because there is an accepted belief that the Peoples Market cannot thrive without this development.This is hopelessly the wrong path because:
1. The “free” funding is an illusion and will only cost the broader tax payer at some point. The fact that this is an abstraction does not make it right.
2. There is a need for a greater Arts emphasis in the town but somewhere like the University or Yale is the logical centre for it. Within the University there are theatres, studios and an infra-structure that makes it likely that the Arts can thrive. It is not surprising that a place of learning like a library has encouraged people to view the Arts offer therein.
3. The development is likely to reduce one major potential revenue stream (the Car Park) whilst medium to long term throwing huge on-going costs on to the community. The likely effect on the Peoples Market is unknown.
4. There is no logic to the hypothesis that the Peoples Market cannot thrive without this development. As a former Market trader, I have mapped over several years ALL of the reasons for the decline of the Market and these are easily reversible. Essentially, the Market is struggling because it is being underused by the public and unable to attract good retailers to undertake business. This is not just a chicken and egg situation where retailers refuse to set up where there are few customers. I repeat NOT. Market traders are wary of the Peoples Market because of a range of reasons, many of which are being improved. Several have left for no other reason than the rents charged and this CAN be attended to. Because existing medium-long term traders can find better rents elsewhere in the town, they are doingMy concerns for the future of this Hub are, in four years down the line when the Arts Council are having to cut back on funding, who will pick up the tab. In the first place if the Police Station was not being replaced WCBC would never ever have thought of building a Hub. My fears are that in time we have neither a Hub or a Peoples Market.
I think the issue is nit four years down the line but day one– the Council refer to the Arts Council increasing their contribution at a time when WCBC see their share reduce. Why should the Arts Council give more at a time when there is less commitment locally- it does not stack up.
If there is such a demand for a facility of this kind can someone please explain why there does not seem to be a single positive response on this thread- where are the members of the Arts Community in Wrexham that are supposed to support the Council?If this progresses then the Wales Audit Office and the Local Government Ombudsman should be brought in to fully investigate the process and the potential for gross administration of Public Sector funding.
Here we go again, what figures are we to believe coming from the Council? There are available to let, 58 stalls in the Peoples Market. At the Executive Board meeting in January 2015 we were told that at that time there were 9 stalls vacant and 9 were used for flexi tenants. Using my limited maths that would have left 40 stalls fully occupied. Cllr Hugh Jones went on to say that 14 stalls would be lost to the new development. It now transpires that the new development will include up to 30 market stalls, a loss of 28 market stalls not 14 as originally informed. Does this mean that 10 traders who had stalls in January were now going to lose them as the stall capacity has now been reduced to 30.
The way I see it there wont even be ten current traders in the new scheme let alone thirty, they are looking to put in stalls that are complimentary to the arts. I dont think that there are many stalls that fit in with their somewhat blinkered vision. There is talk of the council helping the traders through the development of the art hub, so that the diruption and the loss of footfall is minimum, I think its a bit too late for that, traders in all three markets needed investment but there was very little done, especially in regard to the peoples market, if they think that putting in an arts hub is going to turn that around I think they will be mistaken.
Reviving this from July as the consultation is now open.
Consultation Opens For Proposed Conversion Of People’s Market To Arts Hub
I like the Research map of car parking in Wrexham within the news article, with Eagles Meadow labelled as expensive!
OMG…Do me a favour….Art Hub ???…This is Wrexham we’re talking about……
Immigrants……Weatherspoons inbreeds and druggies……
What are they gonna do with an Arts Hub ?????“Featherstone Young will now develop the scheme up to RIBA Stage 3 and prepare a planning application.”
3 million pound project !
Looks like the Council have already decided to go ahead so not sure why they are pretending to have further consultation in the next two weeks !
(Stage 3 means they are beyond the concept stage and on to development )
“To take part in the consultation you can either visit the Peoples Market and find the presentation panels, or with the online consultation now live – you can take part by clicking here!”
If you do click on too the Council’s site to fill in the consultation, this time you can’t complete it with out answering every question, they cover everything from your postcode, age , marital status and pregnancy !!! Obviously they want to put as many people as possible off filling it in !!
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