Ty Pawb Report
-
Posts
-
” The Ty Pawb market hall continues to be a vibrant hub of activity is a place for visitors to eat, meet, shop and enjoy. It is currently home to 35 independent market traders.” From this remark, one could expect to see around 35 stalls, when in fact there are only 24 of which at this moment in time 5 are vacant. The report states in line with high street businesses, the smaller traders have also struggled which has had a detrimental impact on our occupancy.
In year 2021/22 the cash limited budget was £133,519 this was upped to £191,278 for 2022/23. In effect, Ty Pawb in 2021/22 was subsidized by £245k and in year 2022/23 by £250k.
The financial projections for 2023/24 show a subsidy of £563k would be required. Employee costs from 2022/23 of £316,547 are projected to rise to £499,786 for 2024/25
So the forward-thinking council decided to invest £3 million in two new market updates.
£23 million shortfall, I wonder how.?
The funding model from day one has not been a sustainable commercial space- appreciate it is an arts facility and you could argue that would always need a subsidy. but and a real big but is out of all the stalls that are open a number are charities that do not pay rent the Council have them there to try and show a fuller occupancy.
Many of the initial stall holders left after about 12 months and some (maybe all) did not pay rent as the promised footfall figures to get them to invest were so exaggerated.
This has been a Council vanity project from the outset with flawed planning, lack of commercial management and moved from what within council reports was a profit centre that would contribute funding to the arts in Wrexham to being a financial millstone.
There are Council Members that do not live in the real world and keep getting more and more subsidy so they save face by not having to admit it is just not working.
All of the arty people in Wrexham who sing its praises need to look at the level of subsidy – what would they do if the Council gave them £250k for arts projects – would they keep Ty Pawb open or do alternate things elsewhere.Derek:- I also appreciate, it is an arts facility that could always need a subsidy. However, the combining of the market area and arts section balance sheets to me is hiding the true picture of the amount of subsidy required.
Could it be the market hall per square metre is covering all its outgoings, and in fact could be returning a surplus of income over expenditure ? The arts section area is far greater than the market area, and therefore in my opinion separate accounts could possibly highlight these shortcomings to the management.
The Ty Pawb Advisory Board is made up of an Artist, an Artistic Director of a theatre company, an Airline Pilot, an educational co-ordinator, a thought leader, a Portuguese language community representative, a coordinator for the uses of art, a legal consultant, a cohesion team leader and a head of marketing and communications.
When you consider, there is nobody on that Board that has the retail market know how, it only goes to highlight the point greater that the market side is able to look after itself.
The only Wrexham Council representative on that Board and a Lead Member is a former airline pilot. It just could be he has forgotten how to take off.
The Advisory Board is a way of the Council blame shifting if things don’t work out- the group don’t have any control or real influence.
There are just so many flaws in the model from design to management.
Ratepayers are saddled with huge annual bill.Right from the word go everyone knew it would be a huge white elephant that would eventually be funded by the ratepayer, mind you its nice to walk through there in the nice warm, even although it practically empty…
The new butchers market Mmmmmmm ! ????
The new butchers market Mmmmmmmm ! ????
Surely the council will give it a different name. All the butchers have left.
The new butchers market Mmmmmmmm ! ????
Yes you could well be right Jim.
I can’t think of any butchers in the town at all now.
Well no surprises in the report for Councilors- this is the position that was projected within 12 months of opening – the doors have only remained open due to the increasing level of subsidy.
There are a numb er of points Council Members should asking:
1. Arts Council Grant- has this been confirmed for 2024/25 – Arts Council are having big cuts imposed by Welsh Government and they have not yet confirmed all grants to community projects – https://bit.ly/3TTco7r ?
2. Car Park – the Car Park was supposed to have applied for the Park Mark Quality Standard to reflect the Ty Pawb image – never been undertaken as it meant £250k plus of electrical works for the lighting alone to make it safe.
3. The old Market had a number of architects ‘tell tales’ in place due to the level of crumbling concrete around the building. Have all these been removed now or if they are still in place what is the current fabric report indicating regarding the cracks? Where the cracks a result of RAAC concrete problems – has the building been assessed for RAAC?
4. 85% occupancy level does not mean 85% of projected rental income as a number of units are let to charities on below or free the normal income?
5. 5 year fixed wiring testing is a statutory requirement so should have been in the budget in the first place?
6. Energy consumption: Officers in the Council pointed out pre redevelopment that the design did not meet the necessary heat loss or energy efficiency factors but they were overruled by the project team and Council Member as not being affordable.
7. Footfall: since day one the figures have always included people who just use the car park and the stairs into Ty Pawb but don’t actually shop or attend an event – the building for many is just a link passageway. What is the actual footfall of people engagement in Ty Pawb as this is the figure that any retailer should be working on as potential customers and not the current figures that are being used.Market stalls are subject to a rent and on top a service charge. The service charge includes electric, rates, staff wages, water, waste removal, cleaning equipment etc.
The service charge is then divided by the Total Lettable Floor Space of the premises and then multiplied by the area of each individual stall/area.The problem with Ty Pawb is that it has quite a lot of Performance space with very little monitory return but requiring a huge service charge upkeep.
I do hope that the traders in the market are making sure the correct level of service charge is being levied. The South Mall and Chester Street shops have never been, to my knowledge, charged a service charge, yet their rents are credited to Ty Pawb income.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
