Workshop

Denbighshire council ran a workshop this morning on its town centres, writes an informed source. Note that this excluded Y Rhyl. The seminar started with the leader of the council, Hugh Evans of Llanelidan, stating that the problems Denbighshire's towns faced were "not entirely in our own hands". He stated that councillors' own top three issues were:

1. Need for a selling point unique to each of our towns.
2. Need for more people to live within town centres.
3. Improvements to the public realm (i.e. the town centre environment).

INTRODUCTION

Thereafter, it was the turn of professionals. They introduced the subject by professing that there were three types of town:

1. Comparison (e.g. Prestatyn)
2. Convenience (e.g. Dinbych)
3. Speciality (e.g. Llangollen)

It was unclear into which category Rhuthun/Ruthin fitted. It seemed that you could see elements of all three. The type and quantum of shops suggested a comparison town; there is a small element of convenience shopping in the town centre; and Rhuthun is still a specialist visitor destination. Perhaps the problem was nothing particularly surfaced as a dominant category.

A statistician then gave an interesting and perceptive presentation on the differences between Denbighshire's towns.

PRESTATYN had developed into a "shopping town". It had the highest number of retired people people and 76 per cent of the town's housing was owner occupied.

LLANELWY/ST ASAPH was a town with a "commuter culture". People worked and shopped elsewhere. It enjoyed a higher than average car ownership. The community was highly educated, reflecting commuting, St Asaph business park and the district general hospital.

DINBYCH "defies classification" and was simply average across multiple indicators. It did have a higher proportion of Welsh speakers and the highest number of people in part-time employment.

RHUTHUN was a "well to do" town, with incomes higher than average for Denbighshire at £30,000 per head. It had the lowest benefit claimants and the highest number of economically active people. Jobs within the public sector were high. The proportion of independent shops was said to be the third highest in Wales.

CORWEN was a "quiet town", with a low crime rate. There was a move to it being a "honey pot", thanks to the railway. [Note, however, that the railway saw the extension to Corwen as nothing other than of benefit to them. Trains stayed in Corwen for five minutes only].

LLANGOLLEN was a "tourism centre". The food and accommodation centre was higher than average. Age ranges were more mixed. It was increasingly affluent.

ANATOMY OF THE HIGH STREET

There followed some general points regarding high street Britain. "By 2030, the town centre as we know it will be a memory". We've seen over 9,000 bank branch closures since 1989. Familiar names have gone or slimmed down. Even restaurant chains which replaced closed shops have struggled. All this is because of over-development.

Yet, there remains some hope behind the headlines. In April 2018, the BBC reported that "High Street stores opening at lowest rate in seven years" but within was the interesting point that "there are elements of growth amongst the headline numbers of decline. For example, almost 400 new clothes shops opened last year, even though over 700 closed. And, while four pubs a week closed, at the same time three a week opened."

High streets continue to evolve and adapt. Thee is currently a trend towards independent stores where shoppers wish to have more "experiential" shopping plus locally sourced foods. This remains fragile but it's true that the so-called big weekly shop may be a thing of the past. Another trend is to see doctors and dentists return to the high street and for the high street to offer more leisure opportunities. It was interesting that out-of-town retail may be the white elephant of the future [witness Sealand Road without Toys R Us, Maplin, Carpet Right and with Mothercare in trouble].

The internet isn't always the enemy. It offers retailers an opportunity to connect with its client base. Perhaps shops aren't using so-called multi-channels yet their customers certainly are. Yet, there was also a word of warning: it won't be long before our artificially intelligent fridges do the shopping for us.

INSTITUTE OF PLACE MANAGEMENT VIEW

(a) BACKGROUND

Next came Simon Quin of the institute of place management. He was "promoting town centre viability". His starting point 60 years ago was that:

• 13 per cent of households had refrigerators
• During the period from then till now, there had been a 10-fold increase in motor cars
• There had been an increase in the number and size of stores
• Out-of-town retailing had now [once?] dominated the retail landscape.

There were other statistics.

1. It was first food, then bulky items which went out-of-town. Now, we were seeing durable items such as fashions doing so.
2. In the 1970s, most retail development was in the town centre. In 1994, this had shrunk to just 14 per cent, with a slight pick-up following planning regulatory changes.
3. In 2002, less than two per cent of trade was online. In 2017, this accounted for 17.8 per cent and was expected to rise to 25 per cent by 2015. 

The changes we see were therefore not cyclic but PERMANENT. Those shops having left the high street will not return and neither, generally, will new replacements.

(b) IMPACTS ON SUSTAINABILITY

 What impacts on viability and vitality?

1. Attractions—reasons to visit a town centre and what it has to offer. Here, Rhuthun is well placed, even if it does not market itself sufficiently as one brand or whole.
2. Accessibility—the more mediocre the offer, the more important this is. Rhuthun is some distance from, well, anywhere but its quality offer to an extent negates its inaccessibility.
3. Amenity—is the town clean, safe, welcoming, encouraging people to stay? Rhuthun does actually tick most of these boxes.
4. Action—is there marketing, management, co-ordination, strategies, events? Increasingly, yes, in Rhuthun, though sometimes organisations work against each other and there is an inbuilt problem in terms of being too conservative.

(c) REGENERATION

What are the key determinants that Quin put forward regarding regeneration?

1. Re-position—does Rhuthun understand what is going on within its town and does its traders? Quin stated that "most retailers don't know their own town"
2. Reinvention—does Rhuthun meet the needs of its residents and visitors?
3. Re-brand—what of Rhuthun's reputation? Are some traders running the town down?
4. Restructure—the need for Rhuthun to engage as widely as possible about its own future.

As regards point 4., Quin stated that "decision making and management must become less hierarchical and myopic and more place-based and 'porous' to allow more intelligence and input from the location [itself]".

(d) CAR PARKING

It was Quin's considered view that "free parking is a bad idea". It only blocked spaces. Research in the Netherlands suggested that parking charges were only eighth or ninth in determining where people visit. Free after three initiatives had only "mixed success". 

What of one hour free schemes? Quin said that there was "no reason not to try them" but traders themselves had to reimburse all [or part?] of the costs. 

Above all, he said that we should not invest in new car parks—"we may not need them in the future". [This was a reference to an earlier point about the ownership of a car diminishing and their eventual replacement by some sort of buggy service. What, then, would we do with all our car parking land?]

(e) A NEW SPACE

Will there be more local food outlets, food halls and markets? These are particularly popular in Europe.

Should more people live within town centres? And to what extent?

Can car parking space be reused for housing?:

SPECIFIC TO RHUTHUN

Group activities identified the strengths and weaknesses for all Denbighshire towns. Of those people considering Rhuthun, only one lived in the town, so the results are very telling. Here they are:

(a) STRENGTHS

Focusing on art (craft centre: lead centre in Wales)*

Quality public realm (1990s treatment lasted well)

Town council has *some* people with vision

Rural in nature

Sleepy

Independent retailers—clothes shops, butchers

Attractive urban form and quality of buildings

Good schools

Good location in which to live and easy to get elsewhere for days out

Not a clone town likely to see mass high street closures

(b) CHALLENGES

Conservative nature of the town council and businesses*

In the middle of nowhere—difficult to reach including from A55

Local government reorganisation could threaten local economy

Affluent people not economically active in town but elsewhere

Over-capacity in public sector buildings

Retail sector is dead

Shopkeepers and business leaders out of touch with reality

Lifestyle businesses—one or two people cannot do every aspect of business well

Ruthin castle not performing

Lack of food offer using Vale of Clwyd produce.

*—the perceived most important strength and challenge