North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has welcomed efforts to regenerate town centres across Wales but stressed that more needs to be done to accelerate the pace at which this is done.
Leading Wednesday’s Debate in the Welsh Parliament on the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee report on ‘Town Centre Regeneration’, Mr. Isherwood, who is the Committee’s Chair, said the report identified both examples of good practice and challenges that town centres are facing.
As part of the inquiry the Committee visited Mold and Wrexham, as well as Carmarthen and Morriston, to hear from local stakeholders who are working in their communities to enable their towns to survive and thrive.
This included meetings with Mold Town Council, Wrexham County Borough Council, Carmarthenshire County Council, Swansea City Council and Coastal Housing Group.
Speaking in Wednesday’s meeting, Mr Isherwood said:
“We learned that, whilst there is much good work being done to improve town centres in Wales, more needs to be done to accelerate the pace of regeneration, where Wales’ towns and high streets have been changed immeasurably by the pandemic and the increased prevalence of online shopping, and financial pressures continue to affect every community. Indeed, the Committee found that resources for regeneration varied across Wales, with some local authorities having dedicated resources in place for regeneration, whilst other areas depended on more local structures.
“We heard that poor transport links and availability of car parking is affecting footfall in town centres, to the detriment of local businesses, that the lack of simple and integrated transport systems are preventing people from visiting town centres more often, preferring to use out-of-town locations instead, and that the current non-domestic rates regime disincentivises investment in towns, preventing the redevelopment of empty properties and putting additional pressures on small businesses already struggling with rising energy costs.
“We found that a new vision was needed on high streets, to be accompanied by a truly integrated and affordable transport system, a simple approach to taxation, financial incentives to encourage innovation and new businesses, simpler and more accessible planning regulations to support this, and a pragmatic approach to repurposing empty properties, with encouragement and support for businesses to do so.
“This will only be successful, we found, if more is done at a national level to empower our communities to make the decisions to improve their communities, and if there is a stronger regional approach to regeneration, empowering stakeholders to make the big decisions that are right for their area.
“Whilst local coalitions for change are also invaluable, they will only succeed if the Welsh Government adopts a new approach to regeneration and supports these local coalitions accordingly.”
He added:
“The Committee made eight recommendations to the Welsh Government focusing on non-domestic rates, planning policy, transport, regional partnership and on empty properties. Although we’re pleased that all of these recommendations have been accepted by the Welsh Government, the Committee would still like further information on some of the recommendations we made, to understand more about the monitoring, evaluation, timescales and implementation involved.”