Blog: Shrewsbury's special nature can help it weather the storm
First the bad news, writes David Burrow: More than one in 10 shops in Shrewsbury is empty.
Now the, well , not good news exactly. The slightly better news: things aren't as bad as they are in the rest of the West Midlands.
Shrewsbury, and neighbour Telford, have been less affected by the recession than other areas in the region, although the situation in the county town is getting slightly worse. According to the figures, 16.1 per cent of stores in the town are vacant – up 0.1 per cent on last year.
These might seem like a small figure, but let's not forget that 0.1 per cent is somebody's livlihood. It's people's lives. For that reason, this 0.1 per cent needs to act as a warning.
One of the reasons Shrewsbury may have escaped the full brunt of the recession is its wealth of indpendent shops. It is something the town is always keen to promote, especially at Christmas.
But the town centre is under threat from a number of directions. We all know about the ever-expanding Tesco store at Battlefield, the Sainsbury's expansion at Meole Brace, the new Waitrose store coming to Oteley Road and plans for yet another supermarket on Hereford Road. Nobody can seriously suggest that these behemoths, with their loss-leading offers and huge free car parks, will not pose a threat to Mrs Miggins's Pie Emporium.
And that's the other thing - parking fees. Many believe the existing charges at the council-run car parks are too high. It's a tough one. The fees, I believe, are fine if they encourage more people to use the park and ride buses and keep cars out of the town centre. But it is human nature for people to want to drive to their destination, get out of the car, do what they need to do and jump back in the car again. (It's relatively recent human nature. I'm not suggesting you'll find it in the works of Charles Darwin).
The redevelopment of the town's shopping centres offers some hope. It is encouraging to see an investment of this scale while the economic climate is still more Siberia than Club Med. But there are dangers there, too. Too many big names under-cutting local businesses will cause problems.
I am hopeful that Shrewsbury's special nature - its independent shops and quirky narrow alleyways just waiting to be discovered - will help it weather the storm.
But the 0.1 per cent should act as a forecast that the economic winter isn't over yet. Let's not do a Michael Fish and assume the hurricane will pass us by.
Comments for: "Blog: Shrewsbury's special nature can help it weather the storm"
Jayni Anderton
I stopped going to Shrewsbury for the shops when disabled parking became a) scarce & b) to be paid for..Park & ride is all very well but not neccessarily for the disabled having to lug their purchases about & stand waiting for buses..
The disabled fees for parking is just another attack on disabled people.
non driver
It's not just the extortionate parking prices that lower town centre footfall, why do people instantly presume it's that?
It's the poor range of shops, I for one can't wait for the new shopping centre to be built. Also the high rate of independent retailers ostracizes the every day Mr and Mrs shopper, why bother coming into town at all when they live in the suburbs near a big Tesco where they can get everything they could ever need along with the frozen peas? I'm not a fan of Tesco and I live in the town centre but when you're forced out of town for essential school uniform items, that aren't stocked at any of the shops (including m&s) it's disgraceful. What's also shocking is the £6.10 bus fare (for me and my child) to Tesco
Roger
This is a complex amalgam of reasons rather than any one in particular. The biggest factor, at the moment, is government imposed austerity. Agree with the politics or not, it does mean that for the majority there is less money to spend than before. The priority spends are Food Fuel and Housing which are all rising and the Town Centre does not serve any of them. The Town Centre will live or die on the disposable income after the essentials. Luxury goods are doing well because the austerity has not yet hit the wealthier part of the population. It will when the small business fail for the lack of trade.
The second issue is access. This is a balance of congestion, parking, park and ride etc. What the council call traffic calming is in fact driving delays. Making the roads easier for pedestrians and cyclists make it worse for cars and lorries. It is a balanced argument and I feel that denying the car does more damage to shops than improving the pedestrian and cyclists access. The unnecessary hindrance is the quality of road traffic management. Traffic lights where they are not required, and inappropriate timings of the lights. Silly bollards for pedestrians to go nowhere, blocking filtering lanes with congestion etc. Pedestrian controlled lights that delay crossing so long that the pedestrians have crossed before the lights change and leave the red lights holding up traffic for nothing. If the pedestrian could cross without the lights change the crossing is not justified. These cause congestion and delays and are now so bad that locals do not go to town unless they have to. The council is spending a fortune of causing delays with ongoing expensive maintenance requirements. Keeping the motor out means no opportunist sales for the shops for a lack of footfall.
Having said all that; the major problem that Shrewsbury has always had and has never been properly addressed is the economic development of the town. How do we bring new employers into the town to create employment and growth? Do we want to? We can never seem to quite make up our minds.
More Jobs mean more earnings, more spending and more shops. At the end of the day it is as simple as that. More jobs better access and shops selling the goods the people, with the money, want.
Richard Bonella
If the new shops in the proposed Riverside development are not simply to increase the percentage of vacant shops in Shrewsbury, people will have to spend more money in the town. Do we expect more shoppers or wealthier shoppers? Could we have sight of a properly researched business case, rather than the 'big hand - small map' stuff that we have been given so far?
One might ask the same for ip&e - especially as it appears that we cannot even afford capital letters for the name of the enterprise. We know that the jargon - 'horizon scanning', 'delivery vehicles' etc - is mandatory these days, but shouldn't there be some old fashioned mathematics behind these wonderful ideas?