Town Teams: Is this the future?

A RECENT campaign was launched to breathe new life and vitality into Britain’s local shopping high streets. ‘Support Your High Street’ took place at the end of September with the aim of encouraging businesses and organisations, including local government, to support the idea of shopping ‘locally’ in town, village and city high streets, rather than just using out-of-town retail parks.

On September 18, Pembrokeshire’s County Council released a Town Centre Regeneration annual report, via its Economy Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The report focussed heavily on ‘Town Teams’ as part of this regeneration programme. As the report states, Town Teams are partnerships comprising the local business community, town councils and local interest groups along with the County Council, and have been established in six of our county towns: Haverfordwest, Fishguard and Goodwick, Milford Haven, Pembroke, Pembroke Dock and Tenby. Each Town Team is to produce their own action plan. On the subject of Town Team funding the report states, ‘Match funding has been generated via Town Councils and Chambers of Trade with a number of the Town Councils setting funding aside within their own precepts.

Match funding in 2013/14 was generated in three of the six towns (Fishguard, Haverfordwest and Pembroke). Match funding in kind/cash contributions is requested on a project by project basis.’ It further states where the responsibility for Town Team management lies, defining the County Council’s role as one which is to facilitate and enable the Town Teams to work under their own direction and progress with implementing their action plans, with appropriate support from the County Council. Local Pembrokeshire politicians were keen to have their say on this continued initiative to regenerate our County’s struggling towns.

Simon Hart, MP for South Pembrokeshire said: “These schemes are good news for the towns in question, and I am glad that progress is being made. I hope the council will look carefully at areas that are under occupied, such as Pembroke Dock, and provide additional assistance wherever possible. As ever with these schemes, it is action, rather than words, that really matter.” Speaking to The Herald Delyth Evans, Labour Parliamentary Candidate for South Pembrokeshire, stated: “The idea of Town Teams is a very good one. I particularly welcome the involvement of local businesses because they are so important to the future of our towns and they usually know what kind of improvements are necessary to help to attract visitors and customers.

I hope the trend towards out of town shopping has stopped. We should be encouraging people to shop in their local high street and spend their money on local produce and goods. My main concern is that there must be proper financial control and scrutiny of all money spent on improvement schemes, so that the recent misuse of a regeneration grant in Pembroke Dock doesn’t happen again. Complete transparency and rigorous auditing is therefore essential to ensure taxpayers’ money is well spent. Overall the Town Teams have made a good start and I would like to thank those involved for giving up their time and energy to improve their local community.”

Local Councillor for Wiston, and leader of the Conservative group on PCC, David Howlett commented: “Talking to business owners, business rates are a huge expense and although the Welsh Government have introduced some initiatives, I believe they should be going much further in taking far more businesses out of business rates altogether. We should be encouraging entrepreneurs that in turn would help our High Streets. Reduced amounts paid in Business Rates would greatly help this. Another policy I would like to see adopted is that some of the proceeds of council tax are retained by the Local Authority to spend in a way that they think will help regenerate town centres, rather than at present all the proceeds going to the Welsh Government. This would allow local initiatives that would hopefully help local high streets. This policy is already taking place in England, and I would like to see the Welsh Government follow suit.”