Shotton, Connah’s Quay and Queensferry regeneration plans to go before senior councillors

Ambitious plans to regenerate a number of Flintshire towns including Shotton, Connah’s Quay and Queensferry will be on the agenda for the council’s cabinet when it meets later this month.

Smaller town centres have been facing challenging economic circumstances for many years due to changing customer behaviours, the pandemic has accelerated these trends.

Local authorities are looking at ways of “future proofing” towns by bringing empty properties back into use and creating more sustainable use for them.

Flintshire town centres have not been immune to the high street decline but the council says the loss of major national chains and the increase in vacant floor space “has not been as significant an issue as in other areas.”

However, the closure of high street banks has been more significant in a number of Flintshire towns.

“This has, in turn, impacted on the scale and vitality of the street markets in the County.” Flintshire council has said.

Earlier this week the council’s Environment and Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered a report on regeneration, with the authority able to draw on funding from the Welsh Government help towns emerging from the pandemic and other challenges.

According to the Local Democracy Reporter Service, at the meeting, Niall Waller the council’s Enterprise and Regeneration manager spoke about the Welsh Government’s wish for local consultation, including with businesses and town councils.

He said that ‘Place Plans’ would be drawn up for the county’s seven towns, documents which focus on the infrastructure needs of communities.

A report presented to councillors recommends that initial Place Plans are developed for Buckley, Holywell and Shotton. Connah’s Quay and Queensferry would be next, followed by Mold and Flint.

Mr Waller said that work would be carried out “in-house” with six months allocated for each phase, depending on the needs of the town. He added that expectations would need to be managed given some of the ambitions but limits on Welsh Government funding. But that if businesses have any ideas in any of the towns the council will listen.

Flintshire’s Cabinet Member for Climate Change and Economy, Councillor David Healey, said:

“These are ambitious plans for our towns and we have capacity to develop two or three at any one time.  We are recommending that towns be reviewed in three phases, with potentially the first phase looking at areas which already have established priorities and where future investment could be at risk if a Place Plan is not developed as a priority.”

Welsh Government has also introduced an Empty Property Enforcement Programme.  Funding is also available for this initiative and Cabinet will be asked for approval to move forward on this, based on a number of criteria.

Councillor Healey added:

“The criteria include questions around the length of time the property has been empty and whether advice has been given to the owner already.  Bringing empty properties back into use is key to regenerating a town centre and any work done will be handled sensitively and confidentially to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved.”