Adam
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I was initially very keen to support the venture when it was first described as a community based cooperative however it became pretty evident there was a strong political connection between the main drivers, which wasn’t for me, and I guess many others.
I’d take issue with the statement that its town centre fringe location was a contributing factor. In fact its location is ideal to take advantage of WCBC and Crown Building employees, many of whom will travel across the town for a quick lunch or an after-work drink. There was a real opportunity to work with the local food and drink initiatives to heavily showcase what the area has to offer but there didn’t appear to be the imagination to push beyond the tired old formula of cheap beer and 80’s pub menu. A path that many bars and pubs continue to tread towards their demise, as Alun alludes to.
I seem to recall the Council also helping out with rate relief for Saith Seren recently? Contrary to Dylan’s suggestion, this can only hinder the Councils attempts to sprinkle glitter on the People’s Market turd.@rockyrobins 19164 wrote:
The town has been ruined by inept councillors making stupid decision after stupid decision year on year rather than the local mp, i doubt having an mp from a different party representing the town would make much difference to the state of the town centre for example.
To be fair to him Andrew Atkinson, the Tory candidate, has put decent effort in to tackling the fundamental issues across the town centre, mainly the poor appearance of many of the shop fronts. If nothing else it has highlighted what should have done by paid council officers yonks ago.
Of course many will not be able to look past the colour of his tie whatever his efforts..
To be fair to the council, this all seems sensible.. So far.
Replacement of Waterworld – in addition to Total Fitness, we also have a large private gym across the road and potential sports facilities on the other side at the old Groves. There doesn’t seem to be a business case to redevelop the site.
‘Master plan’ for the town centre – good to see Vibrant Viable funding finally being allocated
Public consultation in the summer – fair enough, hopefully all viewpoints will be considered
What remains to be seen is will they take the leap of faith required to consider how to attract those who currently don’t visit the centre..
@99DylanJones 18736 wrote:
Adam- sorry but really don’t know were the demand will be for entertainment (do we not have a cinema and bowling at Eagles Meadow and night clubs in High Street / Brook Street that are struggling for custom). Sport — what facility do we need?
Retail — massive surplus across town and latest information from Kevin Kritchley Manager of Eagles Meadow is that Wrexham needs to loose at least 25% of its existing empty floor space to ensure other business survive.
Do the Council actually need a Guildhall now or in the future following any mergers– they have masses of space in Red Wither Tower and other out of town properties.
Perhaps the plans to convert the Guildhall to residential flats or sold to Yale College that floated around about 10 years ago will now be dusted off and brought out as a consideration.
Are the Council going to get rid of the covenant that exists on the green in front of the Guildhall so it can be developed.This may surprise you but the remaining bars on High St and Brook St don’t appeal to the full spectrum of society. The booze culture is very 90’s and society is slowly moving on. There is demand for an alternative evening economy however the lack of control over the spread of cheap bars across the town makes it all but impossible for an alternative to develop..
Who do you propose would buy a town centre apartment when people can’t be convinced to shop here?
@Rob 18664 wrote:
Interesting trust mention considering todays debate:
“To seek approval for proposals to replace Waterworld and for the future of the dual use leisure centres and to update Members on progress in transferring the leisure service to an existing leisure trust.”
Would Wrexham Council finance a multi million pound new facility to give it away to a trust?
The development site is so large there is an opportunity to provide a real asset for the town be it sports, entertainment, retail or a combination. There’s also the opportunity to make a complete cock-up of it by making knee-jerk decisions to meet self-imposed timelines..
@Rob 18648 wrote:
Waterworld’s replacement, or planned replacement, is up next month I think – would have to check the forward work programme doc.
Good shout. Being discussed on 10th March.
Executive Board Forward Work ProgrammeLooking to seek approval for replacement of Waterworld..
@wrexview 18645 wrote:
Article refers to Library Car Park , so town centre police station .
so it is.. my mistake.
The new design is for the new Llay headquaters no? I was specifically referring to the smaller Wrexham Town Centre unit..
My eyebrow also raised when I heard that figure of 17,000 visitors to the Oriel. That’s getting on for 60 visitors a day. I’d suggest that this figure has been creatively combined with figures for the library.
I caught most of the Arts Hub debate. What particularly stood out for me was the continual references to ‘evidence’, ‘recommendations’ and ‘feasibility studies’. Browsing the rest of the agenda topics, there are many areas where it’s perfectly reasonable to refer to 3rd party evidence, be it council officers, consultants or others. This topic however is where judgement, instinct and common sense is required – councillors are not elected to be a faceless jury acting upon evidence of others.
My ‘judgement’ would be that we have an existing gallery with low footfall and little or no income generation. It does however have decent amount of passing footfall due to the adjacent library and has a large visitor potential from the council offices and colleges nearby to potentially sustain any small developments – such as café/gallery or evening bar as proposed for the peoples market.
As Alun points out, the Peoples Market, and adjacent units, are experiencing a slow death as traders move elsewhere in search of more competitive rents and increased footfall. Efforts would be better placed in reversing this trend and maximising the potential of the current layout.
Combining two underperforming and poorly managed sectors on the speculation that footfall and spend will increase considerably should go against the judgement and common sense of most rational people.
@Adam 17714 wrote:
What’s more than likely to happen is that any criticism of the proposal will be dismissed as general mud-slinging from the public and the Executive Board will push ahead regardless..
Ta daaa..
