Lead councillor gives town centre rejuvenation résumé – “It is not all ‘not doom and gloom”

The councillor in charge of the economy of Wrexham gave a “résumé” of progress on the town centre during his and his administrations term of office.

Cllr Terry Evans made the comments before the Employment, Business and Investment Scrutiny Committee who were meeting to discuss two linked items, an update to the town centre pandemic action plan, and a report from a task and finish group looking at the town centre.

Cllr Evans offered up what he called ‘a bit of a résumé of how he felt “as we are coming to the end of the five year term” linking the performance to the ballot box, noting the council elections in May.

Giving a verbal tour of the town he detailed, “I call it the square mile, I will start off in Chester Street. We have Coleg Cumbria they spent £21 million revamping the kitchen and restaurant for the students, it is a fantastic facility. If you haven’t been ever a coffee or a meal I suggest it would be a lovely place for you to call.

“Next door down the road crown buildings £6.7 million remodelling, social services and other council facilities will be going in there.

“Xplore Science centre £1.5 million, a beautiful science exhibition centre for young children for schools. That’s across the way to Ty Pawb £4.5 million, most of the units are full now thankfully, officers have put a lot of time in there and I think there’s a waiting list for units now.

“We go into Charles Street which is a bit of a hidden gem really, very vibrant, leading on Wrexham Lager our jewel in the crown it is back in Wrexham again now and very proud of it. Up Yorke Street to Nags Head, Fat Boar, into High Street, loads of private money being invested here as well as Welsh Assembly funding – that is looking after itself just like Chester Street as I see it.

“We go into Hope Street the old Burtons is a showcase for the church now. The opposite side the road the bank is being redeveloped, that’s near complete. The Job Centre next to Burtons – and then we go up the road into Regent Street. There’s some work here within Regent Street with problem empty shops that need to be regenerated, but the council are working on this now I know officers have put a tremendous amount of work in.

“Then we pass Hill Street, that’s been regenerated, we see a Lot 11 and Hill Street social looking good.

“Into King Street that’s crying out for investment. The bus station has had many million spent on it. When we come down Lord Street, Co-Op has regenerated the old nightclub and it looks a wonderful shop. We come down Lord Street, we have got the Portuguese restaurant and the Polish restaurant. Both of them look very good with the outside seating, it looks very cosmopolitan, and we need to lift Wrexham into European eating places.

“To Queen Square, we have got the Hub, Chapter Court that is due to be remodelled that the back. The old library will come on stream after the next election.

“We come onto the corner of Henblas Street where Sports Direct have created good footfall, it’s a busy shop. Then we come down Henblas St go back five years ago, it was all empty looked badly neglected. Every unit now is taken up in Henblas Street. Even all the council buildings, I think there are two empty but those are being reserved for when the butter for when the Butchers Market and the General Market are developed.

“So you can see there’s a lot of redevelopment gone on in Wrexham. It’s not all doom and gloom. Regeneration is a start of it and the end is when we finished, it could be 20 years down the line.”

Cllr Evans thanked officers for their hard work on ‘bring millions of investment’, giving a ‘special thanks’ to local MPs and MSs for their support as well.

You can view the full presentation from Cllr Evans below.