Roads, Parking and Positives

The closure by Wales & West Utilities of the upper part of Clwyd Street continues to cause businesses some concern. Indeed, Ymlaen Rhuthun (Ruthin Forward) has called a meeting for Monday 21st March at 2 p.m. at Castell Rhuthun/Ruthin Castle to discuss tactics & options.

But the meeting is believed to be far more farsighted than simply considering the roadworks. After all, they're only "temporary", in Clwyd Street till the end of the month. Thereafter, in the teeth of recession, there remain a number of issues facing the town as elsewhere and it seems that Rhuthun/Ruthin is not prepared to give up so easily. On the table will be a number of ideas, some of which may be new to readers and some may also be potentially exciting:

• Summer monthly medieval Tuesday (or Friday)

• The town fashion trail

• "Discount Thursday"

• The Rhuthun/Ruthin "department store"

• Any other idea that traders or others may have

There are no doubt plenty of people who pine for the medieval markets held on the Square each summer Wednesday. At their height in the 1970s, these filled the centre of the Square and lined its perimeter. They were a draw. Stallholders and others would dress gaily in feudal clothing. In spite of the efforts of some, the idea slowly dwindled to a handful of stalls on the Square’s centre to the point 20 years ago when the project closed.

The issue of car parking charges is also on the agenda and it reminds me of a comment left here by Martini. Martini recalls a potential customer at Cerrig & the Green Lady asking for a free prize suitable for a school event. The request was from someone who admitted that she *never* shopped in Rhuthun because she begrudged paying the parking fees. Instead, the person drove to Yr Wyddgrug/Mold to shop.

Clearly, the woman was not much of an economist. Had she been, she would've realised that petrol plus three hours' parking at Yr Wyddgrug cost over £3.50. That's the price of all day parking in Rhuthun. And, three hours parking comes in at £1. On top of this is the "cost" of the woman's travelling time, equating to at least 50 minutes. In spite of Rhuthun being smaller than Yr Wyddgrug, there are more free on-street parking places in Rhuthun, some of which allow parking for up to an hour & a half.

Ymlaen Rhuthun points to Sir y Fflint/Flintshire where there's been talk of removing parking charges altogether. This argument is now somewhat weakened by the fact that Yr Wyddgrug looks set to retain charging, according to Thursday's Chronicle.

As for the roadworks themselves, I wonder what the position would be were this *not* to have taken place. I assume that it's costing great sums of money. I therefore also assume that the work is essential. Temporary traffic lights were possible at the lower end of Clwyd Street. It's difficult to see how this work could be done further up without Wales & West closing the road.

But we mustn't minimise the concern of traders as the works give the false impression that the town is somehow closed. It is not.