Anglesey - Island of Opportunity?

Welsh Assembly Government (WAG) - competes with private developers in North Wales

Readers will be aware of the name Welsh Development Agency which was "disbanded" following a reorganisation by WAG and the organisation which emerged from the ashes is "Department of Enterprise Innovations and Networks" which looks pretty much the same as WDA but re branded.

DEIN and WDA before them secured conveniently located sites along the A55 Expressway and systematically obtained planning permission for various uses including B1 Office / B2 Industrial and B8 Distribution uses.

The function of WDA during the 1980's and 1990's was to facilitate "inward investment" by pump priming the Welsh economy, securing locations and occupiers that might bring quality jobs to Wales. The WDA had limited success and controversy was never far. Starter industrial units was a speciality and perhaps WDA should never have ventured further.

Turning to the bone of contention, we have several WDA / DEIN sites along the North Wales A55 Expressway listed below.

1. StAsaph

B1 Office park location

2. Glan Conwy (sold)

Industrial

3. Bryn Cegin, Bangor

Planning permission granted for B1 / B2 / B8 undeveloped but serviced at considerable public expense.

Now JV between DEIN and private developer.

DEIN just secure permissions that private developers cannot and then use private developers to put the development together.

4. Parc Menai (part)

B1 Office park location

5. Ty Mawr, Llanfairpwll

Cited twice as unsuitable by the Planning Inspectorate for B1 offices.

Planning permission granted for regional shopping centre but application withdrawn prior to public inquiry.

6. Ty Mawr, Holyhead.

Planning permission granted for B1 / B2 / B8 undeveloped but serviced at considerable public expense.

The foregoing schemes have all been publically funded and planning permission given by local authorities that are an extension of WAG itself. Local Authorities are hardly going to argue with WAG.

However applicants are treated differently, public bodies are invariably given preferential treatment whereas private applicants are given a tough time.

DEIN are:

a) Securing permissions on controversial sites that private developers could not.

b) Have substantial influence over Local Authorities

c) Publically funded

d) Unfairly competing with private developers

e) Winning permissions and excluding private developers.

f) allowing the State to monopolise the development sector.

Clearly the State is competing with private developers and there must be legislation to prevent further state interference with the property market.

How long does this farce need to continue before people realise that the state is running everything in Wales from 2 school meals a day plus feee toothbrushes to monopolising development land.

 

Holyhead - vacant retail floorspace

The Daily Post of 2nd February 2009 ran an article of reported research (by Experian) suggesting that by the end of February 2009 perhaps 39% of retail units in Holyhead might be vacant. It is understood WAG have spent £150 Million over the past decade with various schemes to improve Holyhead centre including TIG's (town improvement grants) to pretty up the existing bricks and mortar fabric in some cases buildings have a chocolate box feel. Market Street looks good although some buildings remain shabby where landlords have not taked advantage of TIG (Town Improvement Grants) that offered public money to refurbish buildings exteriors. Nevertheless such a high number of vacant retail units might suggest a catastrophic trend ....but is saying this fair?

On the periphery of Holyhead at the A55 Junction 2 the A5153, the WDA (recently renamed DEIN) secured a swathe of land for B1/B2/B8 uses; namely offices, industrial and distribution uses along with hotel, fast food and housing permission. Site works have already begun however there are no details of occupiers at this time. Clearly at some future point there might be prospects of significant employment, the "jobs created" box of the planning application suggested maybe 1,300 although this figure should be treated with caution. Jobs here could boost local spending and perhaps demand for retail floorspace.

Off Junction 2 on the A5153 / A5 junction the Holyhead retail park (developed by Pettifer Estates) with Tesco and Morrison supermarkets dominate the retail scene and capture the lions' share of weekly spend in Holyhead. Indeed since the end of 2008 when Morrisons opened, the location has become busier with additional traffic. There is limited footfall given the "remote" edge of centre location.

Returning to the town centre, how can it compete with free and unrestricted car parking of the edge of centre retail provision?  The answer is that it cannot compete as there is no free parking at the Council controlled carparks and furthermore traffic calming measures mean the town centre core is closed off from vehicles between 10am and 4pm. The Council should examine this traffic restriction further because retailers that have lease commitments are penalised by a policy that is clearly unworkable. The retailers in edge of centre locations benefit from a higher spending pattern attributable to car bourne customers whereas the town centre spending is lower and attributable to pedestrians or perhaps non-car borne customers. Car ownership plays a significant role in spending patterns in Holyhead but this point is not addressed by Anglesey Council.

The new bridge linking Holyhead Ferry / Rail terminus with the town centre retail core was indeed a fantastic idea but fell short of what was actually required. In essence, a deal with Railtrack should have been considered whereby the entire area between the bridge over the railway station could be slabbed over and a shopping centre built. A supermarket anchor plus a department store linking into Market Street could work. Perhaps this should be the next step?

As an interim measure, to boost spending, Anglesey Council should "deregulate" parking in the town centre and allow pedestrians and cars to mix in Market Street. Deliveries should be before 8am and after 6pm. Spending patterns have demonstrated that the car borne shopper is king so embrace this concept and bring cars back into the centre as this might stimulate retail unit demand....

Your comments on this topic are most welcome.

Also see Holyhead Forward website