Council chiefs warned not to create "slums for the future" with plans to revitalise Wrexham town centre

That was the view of Cllr Marc Jones as a Wrexham Council scrutiny committee ran the rule over a report on the implementation of the Town Centre Masterplan and the
co-ordination of services in the town centre.

A report to the employment, business and investment scrutiny committee report stated that six themes had been developed relating to key town centre functions: a place to shop, a place to visit, an attractive and distinctive place, an accessible place, a place to live and a place to work.

Cllr Jones said that the type of housing was absolutely crucial to making overall plans for the town centre a success and also asked how many houses would be included.

“If we have innovative, good quality well-designed housing – as we have in parts of the town – then we can actually deliver something very good, because people will want to live in those houses, will want to shop and be entertained in the town centre,” he said.

“If we don’t get it right, then we’re in danger of building slums for the future. I think we’ve got a real opportunity if we get it right to be building energy efficient housing, environmentally friendly housing, car-free housing – that sort of thing.

“But we’ve got to be proactive, because if we wait for the developers to come up with solutions, unfortunately too often those developers have come up with a cheap solution and we need something of a bit more quality.”

Lee Robinson, executive director for place and economy, said that he did not have specific numbers but added that there was a range of options including new builds, but also encouraging people to live above retail buildings, converting such premises and office accommodation.

Andrew Harridine, the council’s community development manager, said the authority was looking at what building could bring accommodation development, particularly first and second floor premises, on a case by case basis.

Mr Harridine said social, intermediate rental and executive housing was needed to ensure money is spent in the town centre economy.

Cllr Sonia Benbow-Jones asked if measures such as park and ride were being looked at to keep vehicles out but still provide links for people to move around.

“I think if you want to improve the quality, you do have to look at the impact of traffic,” she said.

Mr Robinson mentioned a number of areas being looked at, including the impact of HS2 railways and where its hub will be, the A482 interchange with the A55, and green transport networks such as walking and cycling works.

He added that the council was working closely with the Welsh Government to ensure infrastructure will be in place to support an increase in housing and businesses across the borough.

Cllr Andrew Atkinson said he was all for trying to make the town centre easier for people without a car to get into the town, but added: “If we try and put people off using their cars, in the interim until we’ve got to that place where we want to be, I think it’s quite a dangerous thing to do.

“We know that people get in their cars to our biggest competitors – they go off to Broughton, Cheshire Oaks and Chester – and if we make it difficult for people to get into Wrexham in a car, in the meantime we’re just going to lose those people and that’s going to hurt already hard-pressed traders who need every single advantage that they’ve got.”

Cllr Nigel Williams welcomed the report but asked asked what was being done with the likes of police and the health board to tackle well-known anti-social behaviour issues in the town centre.

He said: “You can improve the town centre and make it look very nice but I get calls from residents to say that they’re intimidated to come into the town centre.”

Cllr Williams said the authority could “pave the streets with gold”, but people would not come to the town centre if they were intimidated.

Mr Robinson said a significant amount of work had been done, with outreach work and police dealing with criminality.

A report to the committee told how the aim after the scrutiny review is for the council to develop a strategy to tie together all of the work already taking place in the town centre.

This could cover the work undertaken by the Streetscene team to clean up and maintain streetscapes and roads, the backing given to business start-ups by Business Support or what the Economic Development team has done to organise tenancies in vacant premises.

The report refers to meetings taking place at a senior level as part of a new co-ordinated approach and also outlines progress against the Town Centre Masterplan, which is the planning and regeneration tool for the town centre.

The document also goes on to list actions by masterplan theme and priority including ongoing work to promote the Bridge Street regeneration site and the construction of Ty Pawb, as well as future projects such as improvements to shop frontages through a Heritage Lottery Fund Bid and streetscene investments.

Committee members unanimously agreed a motion by Cllr Jones that they recognise the importance of arts, culture, food and drink, entertainment and housing to the future success of the town centre.

The motion also asked for as much engagement with town centre councillors as possible.