Egerton / King Street Regeneration
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Posts
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@justjojo2011 12916 wrote:
FYI, the money that paid for the “regeneration” came from a European grant and not from Council funding. However, with that said, council tax in the area has supposedly gone up “to pay for the improvements”
Quite correct, the money came from the public purse at one level or another. Money from Europe or from the UK or from Wales is all raised by some sort of taxes and the one that impacts on the Shop owners is the Business rate. The higher the business rate, the less likelihood of the shop staying open, the less likelihood of the shop staying open, the less likely that the landlord will refurbish the property. TE Roberts actually cited Business rating as a prime contributor to their demise and I am sure that every shop in the Centenary Buildings is creaking under the weight of the rates.
Each time a tenant leaves (say) the Centenary buildings under the pressure of (say) Rates, the landlord will be less likely to attend to the basics of keeping the property spotless and attractive. Hence, whilst it is good to improve the street appearance, this fails to get down to the nitty gritty of the problem….Business Rates
Perhaps the King Street solution is for the rest of the tenants (sorry for computer shop) in Centenary Buildings should move and pull the whole place and replace with housing the same as 60 years ago. Give up the whole are back to housing rather than trying to keep retail alive in a dead part of town.
@99DylanJones 12986 wrote:
Perhaps the King Street solution is for the rest of the tenants (sorry for computer shop) …
Jones The Computer has just moved from King Street to industrial estate .
Pc Repair, Computer Support – Jones The Computer – Wrexham industrial Estate, Wrexham Ll13 9ae
@99DylanJones 12986 wrote:
Perhaps the King Street solution is for the rest of the tenants (sorry for computer shop) in Centenary Buildings should move and pull the whole place and replace with housing the same as 60 years ago. Give up the whole are back to housing rather than trying to keep retail alive in a dead part of town.
Might well be the most far-sighted observation on here Dylan. I hate to see good money thrown at a dead zone and unless they do something about the Business rates, this makes total sense. Did you know that (apparently) the Bus Station used to be tennis courts for the gentry?
The whole of King Street and Grosvenor Road used to be residential with some very substantial properties– shows that the town retail footprint is to large and needs to contract to that of 60 years ago to make sure the businesses that are still left have a chance of making a living. I’m sure many of the businesses that have a shop open do this as they still have to pay rates. A number of charities have been given shops rent free as the property owner can then claim 80% Mandatory charity rate relief — with 15 charity shops now in the town there is probably no more room for these units.
How long can a landlord afford to have an empty shop and still paying out on rates on a property they had hoped would make them a profit.
If the landlord is not making profits they are not paying taxes so it becomes a spiral where every part of society losses out.King Street should not really be a ‘dead’ part of town. Thousands of people arrive there every day via the bus station, and with a bit of imagination it should not be too difficult for business to attract custom in this area. It has been mentioned on other topics in the forum that the town needs an area for ‘civilised’ dining and drinking. Could this be the area of town to encourage this?
@johnhoppy 12991 wrote:
King Street should not really be a ‘dead’ part of town. Thousands of people arrive there every day via the bus station, and with a bit of imagination it should not be too difficult for business to attract custom in this area. It has been mentioned on other topics in the forum that the town needs an area for ‘civilised’ dining and drinking. Could this be the area of town to encourage this?
I agree with johnhoppy, King Street was the main hub of the town, and still could and should be, but from the latest improvements (I say that lightly!) to the new bus station which again is poor at best, all these improvements have not been thought out at all, still the pavements are nice and bright for the Glyndwr residents to walk over..;)
@johnhoppy 12991 wrote:
King Street should not really be a ‘dead’ part of town. Thousands of people arrive there every day via the bus station, and with a bit of imagination it should not be too difficult for business to attract custom in this area. It has been mentioned on other topics in the forum that the town needs an area for ‘civilised’ dining and drinking. Could this be the area of town to encourage this?
I’m caught between this very positive comment and Dylan’s. If the rating system was overhauled, I think I would be very positive and the other very good positive comments made thereafter.
To add to this, I note that there are 2 traffic crossings between the Eagles Meadow site and the Mecca Bingo/Tesco side of the road (which helps knit that part of town together), yet none on King Street or opposite Yale College. I remember that when I was struggling to keep my own business afloat amid the redevelopment of King Street asking for this type of obvious street enhancement
The Westminster Government that is responsible for revaluation of business property have delayed this from 2015 – 2017. There is a very good reason for this and that is most business properties have reduced in commercial value and most of the 2015 revaluations would have shown a reduction which in turn would have reduced in a lower level of business rates to be collected.
The delay of two years is purely for the benefit of the Government’s budget at a time when businesses are struggling to pay.
The 2018 rate reduction that will follow the revaluation is going to have a massive hit on the amount of funding that the treasury will collect and therefore make available to the Welsh Government and Local Authorities. It will only mean one thing — service cuts again).
Footfall statistics from transport hubs such as the bus station show people are en-route to somewhere or from somewhere rather than visiting the area around a bus station.
In the past when the retail town area was Regent Street,Hope Street area, Queens Street – King Street played a major part of this retail area with 100% occupancy- clothes, electrical, solicitors, Fairways Restaurant, Leader Office (when this was a bigger operation), hairdressers and Job Centre – many of these have now closed with the movement in the direction of Eagles Meadow. It is for this reason I am suggesting that we need to look further back in history to the times of residential prioperties.@johnhoppy 12991 wrote:
King Street should not really be a ‘dead’ part of town. Thousands of people arrive there every day via the bus station, and with a bit of imagination it should not be too difficult for business to attract custom in this area. It has been mentioned on other topics in the forum that the town needs an area for ‘civilised’ dining and drinking. Could this be the area of town to encourage this?
Could well be, but it would need coordination between landlords and businesses to develop a coherent direction to be sold to the public and potential investors. This, in my opinion, is where the council are failing the most.
Perhaps the £40k (whoop dee do) put aside from the Vibrant and Viable pot to assess the direction ofthe town centre may be the start..
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