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- Welsh Government keen to “lock-in” positive changes in town centres arising due to Covid-19.
- Support provided to councils to take forward schemes to “green and clean” communities.
- Criticism that the boundaries of town centres have been too narrowly-defined by local authorities.
While town centres have taken a battering during the Covid-19 pandemic, their relative decline – as retail habits change – has been discussed several times this term, with the Welsh Government committing £90million towards regeneration efforts earlier in 2020.
Despite those long-standing and new difficulties, there were some positive outcomes from the pandemic which Deputy Minister for Local Government & Housing, Hannah Blythyn (Lab, Delyn), was keen to “lock-in”, including:
The Welsh Government has set up a town centre action group which will seek the views of businesses and communities to develop plans.
As there won’t be a Barnett Formula consequential as a result of similar spending in England, the Shadow Communities Minister, Mark Isherwood MS (Con, North Wales), asked whether Wales would spend an equivalent sum instead?
The Deputy Minister was keen to point out that the £90million fund isn’t the only money being spent on town centres. That said, she didn’t think a consequential would have outstripped that spending (without providing any figures).
While there has been a lot of talk about increased remote working potentially boosting town centres – possibly through the establishment of remote working hubs – Helen Mary Jones MS (Plaid, Mid & West Wales) asked for further details. Was this being led by local authorities or someone else?
Also, several members raised the issue of bringing empty properties back into use – though the Deputy Minister told MSs an empty property enforcement fund formed part of the original £90million.
There was criticism too of the narrowly-defined definitions of town centres, which often meant businesses located slightly outside the boundaries or in village centres surrounding a town fell through the net.
“If I look at the towns in my constituency, whether it’s Tredegar, Ebbw Vale, Brynmawr or Abertillery, as well as the smaller communities….I’m not seeing the level of support from the local authority I would want to see. I’ve met and discussed the situation facing our town centres with local government, and I’m disappointed in the response that I’m seeing from them. But I’m not seeing much creativity, quite frankly, from Welsh Government either….”
– Alun Davies MS (Lab, Blaenau Gwent)
The Deputy Minister said it was down to local authorities to define what a town centre is, though she was willing to carry out further work on ways to support smaller/satellite centres.
