Council ‘performance report’ states 1.3m people visited Wrexham town centre in the past year

More than one million people visited the town centre in the past year, new figures have shown.

The data has been released as part of the Wrexham Council’s ‘Focused on our Performance’ report, which will go before the executive board for discussion tomorrow morning, which is a self-evaluation carried out by the council.

As part of the report a number of areas of the council’s performance are graded in a traffic light system – with red suggesting performance is off track, amber showing progress has been made but not as quickly as desired and green is progress is being made and outcomes are improving.

Over the past year the report states that 1.3 million visitors were recorded in the town centre – with a weekly average of 72,723 visits.

The footfall data itself is provided by an electronic pedestrian / footfall tracker which was installed at the corner of Hope Street and Regent Street – between Barclays Bank and WH Smith – in 2017.

Earlier this year a new counter was installed on the High Street, with further plans for the council to procure footfall counters which will be located at the entrance of the town’s markets.

The report explains that: “The information we receive allows us to determine whether factors such as weather or events in the town increase/decrease footfall to the town and will also allow us to analyse the data for the markets when the additional counters are in place.”

However in June 2018 it was noted during the bi-monthly Town Centre Forum that whilst footfall may have increased in the town, it may not always reflect in sales for traders.

With regards to town centre retail the report continues onto say that the number of empty units in the town centre is higher than the UK and Wales average – a factor put down to the general decline of the high street and also the rise of internet shopping.

This in part is put down to “the consumer now wanting more of an experiential retail visit” and the overall offer needs to change to accommodate the change in demand and attract people to town.

There is a common misconception that all shops in the town centre are owned by Wrexham Council. However only 22 shops are owned by the local authority – of which only four were vacant at the time the data in the report was produced.

Town centre retail and the current offering is often a contentious issue on social media – a factor heightened by the loss of several high profile names from Wrexham in recent months.

However it was good news across the county borough, with tourism spend bringing in an estimated £117 million to the local economy over the past 12 months, based off data submitted by local tourism businesses.

Spend by Wrexham Council in the town centre is also highlighted, with an investment in Christmas lighting, new CCTV and the completion of Tŷ Pawb – which received a share of council funding, along with Welsh Government’s Vibrant and Viable Places and Arts Council Wales monies.

Other areas are covered in the report, with employment showing 869 jobs being created ‘with direct Council involvement’ – split with 469 of them achieved through the Business Development Team, and the remainder through the development of Her Majesty’s Prison Berwyn.

On various industrial estates in the area the property market is described as being ‘currently very strong’ with the demand for industrial units in key locations outstripping supply. This itself creates a problem, as it is noted there are potential difficulties for new businesses to find appropriate premises.

Wrexham as a ‘environmentally responsible place’ is rated as ‘amber’ despite Wrexham Council surpassing the Welsh Government’s recycling targets early, the ‘overall cleanliness of highways and the time taken to remove fly-tipping have both worsened’ lowering the overall verdict. The report states there has been a 25% increase in fly-tipping incidents across the County Borough over the last three years.

The report will go before the executive board at 10am on Tuesday 9th October. For those unable to attend the meeting, it will also be webcast live on the Wrexham Council website.

You can view the report and find out more about the council’s performance in a number of areas, here.