Time to map out a plan for Villa's future
- Says blogger Matthew Turvey
More than a fifth of town’s shops empty
Monday 8th February 2010, 11:30AM GMT.
More than a fifth of the shops in an ailing Black Country town centre are lying empty, new figures have revealed.
The recession has taken its toll on trade leaving 66 of Dudley’s 314 shop premises unoccupied.
Dudley Council plans to a spend a £53,623 grant using vacant buildings as temporary art galleries or information points. Brierley Hill has 36 of 240 units empty, while 44 out of 489 in Stourbridge and 23 out of 256 in Halesowen are empty.
Deputy council leader Councillor Les Jones said he was concerned at the number of vacant shops but the borough faired better than neighbouring areas.
“We have been told we are through the recession but I don’t think we are going to see any changes at retail level for some time.
“We need to do everything we can to support the existing businesses and help them recover,” he added.
Under plans to go to the council’s cabinet on Wednesday, Dudley, Stourbridge, Brierley Hill and Halesowen will each receive £10,000 of the Government cash pot.
Remaining cash will be shared equally among Amblecote, Cradley, Gornal Wood, Netherton, Pensnett, Quarry Bank, Roseville, Shell Corner, The Stag, Upper Gornal, Wall Heath, Wollaston and Wordsley.
Councillor Jones said: “We can decorate the vacant shop fronts and make them look more vibrant and not so derelict.” There are no strict guidelines on how money should be spent and the council will work on plans in the coming months.
The grant is part of a wider £3 million government grant given to 57 councils hit hardest by the recession.
Last year, in a separate project, empty shops in Stourbridge’s Victoria Passage were brought back to life with an art exhibition by Stourbridge College art and design students.
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Things are only going to get worse. Figures were taken over the christmas period when people spend more anyway, these figures were used to tell us we are exiting the recession but the truth is it’s a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire.
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The council needs to encourage business into the town areas. At the moment it’s forced them out.
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Not much to do with the council, more and more people with no money to spend, number 1 pretty much hits the nail on the head.
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So if thats the case why has Merryhill mopped up in trade this xmas with shops having record sales? Theres plenty of money around. The councils havn’t done anything to encourage business into these towns. Car parking charges, higher business rates,plus run down town centres nobody wants to shop in anymore.
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Like number 1 says, shopping figures at christmas do not reflect on the bigger picture.
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Is this a surprise to anyone. The main efforts of the Council seem to be geared towards Merry Hill and Brierley Hill, plenty of money to spend there it seems. It was a major blow when Beatties closed, but again it was no surprise after House of Fraser took over. The store was stocked with inferior quality goods when compared to the majority of Beatties stock.
The council should talk to the people of Dudley who after all know what is needed to revive the town. Why not cut the horrendous cost of parking for a start.
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Its Dudley councils policy of giving preference to the Merry Hill Centre rather than local towns, and its high parking charges that are driving shoppers away. Until the council addresses that the Borough will continue to sink.
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Don’t like Dudleybashing.But……
It is like looking at a wild animal once you have killed it and saying “Oh dear,it’s dead !”
The most positive solution is to try and get far more people to live in the centre of the town.You want a proper University? You want homes for nurses and civil servants?
With the castle as a background the potential is there to make it into a sort of Durham.I can imagine a sort of old imitation medieval town with all the latest ecological gadgets-the view from up there is also breath taking.All upstairs areas could be student flats or homes for young people.Then the shops would start coming back.
I think the Hurst Street part of Birmingham is an interesting example of how to proceed,as Digbeth will also become.
Come on : find us some decent young budding architects.I think the potential is enormous.
I think more people should be living in the High Street area of Stourbridge too.
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You scare me!! How could anyone in their right mind given the choice want to live in a town centre? It makes me wonder why anyone would buy those terrible apartments on sale in the Merryhill Centre?? Given the choice it would be living in the country side that I would choose for me and my kids,certainly notsmoggy unhealthy suburbia!!
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If everyone thought like you St Joe the cities would become towns. There are many factors that come into play – employment, travel etc just to name a few.
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Well if there was a university, maybe the students would prefer to live in the town rather than travel back “home”, would be a lot more feasible.
A lot of the younger generation also would prefer the town to city lifestyle, those who have been lead to believe it’s cool to live the party lifestyle drinking alcohol and taking drugs, pubbing and clubbing, 7 days a week.
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Dudley is dead and the reason its dead are clear to everyone except Dudley Councillors!!!!!
Dudley Council refuse to accept what is hitting them in the face, it’s the fact that they are imposing horrendous levels of parking fees on motorists, its killed Dudley, you need proof? Look at Merry Hill, Free Parking and a thriving business centre.
Merry Hill is the ultimate shopping experience it has top quality brand name shops, its clean, its safe and most importantly it has an abundance of FREE parking and Dudley Council hate it with a passion, they are constantly waging war on the owners of Merry Hill, trying to force them into imposing parking charges on its shoppers, but the owners know as soon as they do, Merry Hill will turn into just another run down decaying shopping centre like Dudley Town Centre itself is.
I remember Dudley Town Shopping Centre from years ago, it was a lovely oldy worldy shopping town, now it is waiting for the bulldozers to do their job but the councillors in their ivory towers carry on as if nothing has happened and still insist on taxing the shoppers even though this is destroying the borough.
Jim of Bearwood
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I feel that it’s not just the recession that’s causing the demise of this town – it’s council policy.
There seems to be a deliberate ploy to make it as dirty, derelict and generally unwelcoming as possible. You’ve got filthy streets including the town’s fountain, no real Tourist Center (remember that debacle?), a controversial mosque, as well as nasty attitudes towards traditional Christmas decorations.
I grew up in this area and loved this English town, with an incredible past – and I hate what’s been done to it.
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Dudley has an incredible past, including it’s zoo and caves, as well as other historical sites of interest that date back hundreds..thousands, of years. It’s even on the map for ghost tours. Both the recession or the Merry Hill Shopping Center as well as Internet shopping have had an impact..yet other towns do OK. Dudley needs to attract people, the right kind of people and until then it will remain unsafe and dirty..as seen from a bypass as people travel to Merry Hill.
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As a local resident (Netherton), I would rather travel to Merry Hell (round trip of 5.4 miles) than Dudley (round trip of 3.4 miles). Why? Ease of parking. It is possible to find free parking in Dudley, but you are usually limited to an hour, so you go to Dudley for a specific reason and get out again. Even if you are willing to pay, you have to limit yourself because the parking is pay and display in most cases, and so even if you did think that you’d prefer to stay a little longer than planned, you can’t.
I went to Merry Hell (yes, that is mine and a lot of other people’s name for it) yesterday for a simple errand, but spent an hour just browsing the shops.
The other problem is what I call’The Dudley Game’. This is a game of strategy where you work out how to get where you want to go without falling foul of the pedestrianised streets and one-way systems, that make even the simplest journeys a nightmare of route planning.
And what about the Stone Street civic square!?
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I’ve been to
Dudley this morning, the gents toilet in the market place was locked, I walked all the way up to the toilets on the Stafford street car park they were locked, I believe there are toilets in the library but it doesn’t open till 9.30 am on Tuesday so I had to go home. That’s just one of the reasons people prefer Merry Hill.
I personally prefer real town centres to Merry hill, but prefer ones in Shropshire over ones in Dudley. One of the reasons being the parking charges are much more reasonable, as little as 20 pence for one hour. Much more sensible.
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Local councils are the ultimate salesforces for internet shopping companies. The more they charge for parking, the more I use the internet for shopping. How can they complain that town centres are dead, when they have tried to drive motorists out of town for years.
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Architects can make jewels out of beaten up areas.Dudley is ripe.The solution is putting a resident population in it.And bringing it back to life.They needed to do a block by block study of the centre and decide what to get rid of.Then they need a fullscale development plan.The compact streets and market square are dreams for an architect,a good one.I have lived in the centre of Durham: the architecture of new buildings in the old part is a gem.Think of towns like Siena in Italy.There are loads of towns in England which have done the same.Think of York,Ely,Cambridge etc.Why do people want to live in the centres of Ludlow or Bridgnorth?
Dudley will never be an industrial centre again.But it is very central and it needs CULTURE.It needs a good university,youngsters,life.
Why can places like Liverpool do exciting things and not Dudley ?
You know what the main problem is : APATHY !
And apathy is a load of people who are interested in taking home their big salary and letting the place go to rot.
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Enough has been said to write a book on why our town centre has declined to beyond belief
Most town centres wish they had a castle a zoo and the black country museum but not Dudley council regeneration is the answer but not a shopless regeneration like what is being proposed by our leaders.
if you feel the same way i do about the decline of the town centre please join our face book group the friends of dudley town centre.
Friends of dudley town centre
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NEVER MIND ALL THESE EMPTY SHOPS/ BUILDINGS/ CAN BE USED AS REFUGEE HOMES…… YOU MARK MY WORDS.
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having traded in the town centre for more than 40 years it breaks my heart to read comments about Dudley. This centre was a leader, a tight shopping centre that worked like clockwork . there was a 10 year rate free zone you know where, that killed all not only Dudley, i think it is about time that the loyal traders should be given a helping hand to encourage them to stay not futher increases. My lease has now ended after my father signed a 21 year back to back lease 42 years in total its been tough but i have enjoyed the challenge and would not have worked in any other town so come on councillors give me a good sign to remain here
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keep fighting alan justice will be done to the town centre the council will have to listen and your toyshop is the best in the borough still!
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STJOE excellent comments, shame your not on the council or at least more people like you.
Derek Turner your comment “The main efforts of the Council seem to be geared towards Merry Hill”
The only effort Dudley council put into Merry Hill is to try to force them to implement a car parking scheme.
Alan Caswell I feel so sorry for people in your position, you’re the real victims of Dudley Council’s campaign to force shoppers to shop the way they want.
I know Dudley well loved the market there but who in their right mind wants to pay a fortune to park their car, then have a 10 minute walk back to their car carrying their heavy shopping only to find that possibly they have been fined because they were 5 minutes late getting back to their car, sorry Merry Hill will win hands down every time.
Alan Caswell what you traders need to do is to get together and form a body strong enough to say to Dudley Council “we don’t pay one more penny in rates till you have removed all parking charges and penalties” then let them take you all to court and explain to they court that they are a democratically elected council put there to serve “Not Rule” the electorate in the borough!!!!
I recently had to drop an 87 year old lady off at Dudley Bus terminus what a stupid idea, I can remember the time I could drive straight to it not now, you have to drive all round the back roads and then there is no facility near for a drop off point, so why would anyone want to use Dudley Bus Station? This is just another nail in Dudley’s coffin because of stupid planners in Dudley Council.
Dudley Council seem to be doing everything in their power to drive people away from the town, wonder why?
Jim of Bearwood
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I will be meeting the regeneration manager of dudley in a few days time i will ask some of these qeastions which have been bought up on these comments
Friends of dudley towwn centre
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