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TOWN CENTRESFACING CRISIS

HOPPERS are slowly abandon-ng town centres in the West

Midlands because they are

orse than they were 10 yearsgo and continue to struggle.That is the result from the second

ay of the Express & Star Your Sayurvey, the biggest independent analy-s ever carried out in the Black Coun-y and Staffordshire.Almost 11,000 responses have beenceived on a variety of issues ranging fromuncil services to transport and crime..Day two is all about town centres. Our

urvey comes at a time when the highreet is fighting for its very survival. Thevernment has set up a scheme with Mary

ortas, star of Mary Queen of Shops, tolot different ideas but only Wolverhamp-n in our region was successful in gettinge go-ahead to try new ideas.

Declined

Town centres in the West Midlands haveclined over the past 10 years as more andore people have moved to shopping onlinein out of town retail parks.More than 87 per cent of E&S readersy their towns are either much worse oromewhat worse than they were at the

art of the 21st century.Only seven per cent say the town centrese the same as they were in 2003 whilest 4.5 per cent say they are somewhattter and only 1.2 per cent much better.Our question about how towns are far-g resulted in 48.2 per cent saying theyere struggling and 34.7 per cent sayingey were not as good as they used to be.

ust over 11 per cent said town centresere adequate for their needs while only1 per cent said they were good.And there is an overwhelming consensus

bout the top priority to make town centrestter attracting and maintaining a goodandard of shops.That aim is easier said than done indays economic climate. Latest figures

how that Dudley and West Bromwich havee largest number of empty units in theuntry for medium sized towns whileolverhampton and Walsall have featuredthe top 10 for large towns or cities.

That means that, by necessity and alsothrough convenience, shoppers are beingdrawn to out-of-town centres. Our pollreveals that more people now go to MerryHill, which boasts free car parking, forclothes shopping than their own local towncentre shops.

Many areas are undergoing major regen-eration, such as in West Bromwich, whichis it hoped will lead to a high street revival.

In Wolverhampton, council and city cen-

tre bosses have won support from the gov-ernment to trial the proposals of TV starMary Portas. Students and entrepreneurswere invited to apply for a share of a50,000 package with the keys to vacantshops rent free for six months.

Walsall failed in its bid to become a Por-tas Pilot but council chiefs decided to goahead with their own proposals anyway. Anight market will return to Walsall inMarch after the inaugural one, held in

October, was hailed a big success. Stallsoffering crafts and cottage-style trades willbe set up on The Bridge.

Walsalls challenge is typical of that of allour traditional town and city centres. Inde-pendent figures show its shop vacancy rateis around 29 per cent, with more than 80empty units in the heart of the borough.

But, while town centres struggle, out oftown malls like Merry Hill and the Gal-lagher Retail Park appear to be flourishng.

Raising thstakes witdominatioof bettingshops fea

There are far too many betting shops icentres, say 65.8 per cent of people.

A further 32 per cent say the number is abo and just two per cent of respondents to thewould like to see more. At a time when manare closing, bookmakers are one of the fewopening up new businesses on the high stree

Ladbrokes recently applied to open a bettiin a former Game store in Wolverhampton. Itake the total number of bookies in the city cnine. It would be the firms second branchheart of the city and the 10th in the Wolverharea. The city centre also has three Coral shops, a Paddy Power, a BetFred, a Wilf Gilba William Hill.

In a letter to Wolverhampton City CounciKasuji from Leeds-based RR Planning consacting for Ladbrokes, said that betting offbright and busy. BetFred will replace theMillets outdoor clothing store in Dudley Highwhich has been empty for two years.

Growth

Coral are also planning to open a shop in throad while even a former post office in WGreen Shopping Centre in Stourbridge hbecome a bookmakers. Betting shops are doiwell with the rise of online gambling and sports sites. William Hill reported a growth ocent online and a rise of six per cent from itUK betting shops in 2012.

Last year Labours deputy leader Harriet H

admitted that gambling liberalisation introdthe former Labour government was a mistahad ruined peoples lives.

A majority of our readers, 51.9 per cent, wolike to see fewer charity shops while only 3.3 pof people would want to see more. Paul Benneident of the Black Country Chamber of Comsaid: Charity shops and betting shops play thand are important for the local economy. But centres need a good variety of all types of sho

Richard Royal, spokesman for LadbrokThere isnt a particular increase in betting srecent years, and they have halved since theThey have simply become more prominent dulast Labour Governments removal of the dtest, allowing betting shops to open neareranother based on economic demand rather thtrary geographical distances.

Dudley market trader Deb Brownlee said not concerned by the number of charity shoptown centre. Charity shops these days arepresented it is difficult to tell the difference.

Wolverhamptons centre is getting help from Mary Portas

West Bromwich has among the highest rate for empty shopsMerry Hill is the most popular destination for clothes shopping

ReportbyDANIELWAINWRIGHT

aniel.wainwright@expressandstar.co.uk

Tomorrow: Your Transport on bus services, the state of roads and your verdict on H

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Commentsby readerson feelings

about theirhome towns I am Wolverhampton born and bred and the city

centre is a complete tip drunks weeing, sick on thefloor, smashed windows, empty shops and a glut ofpound shops and bookies. Wolverhampton desperately needs an injection

of money to smarten up. Too many cheap 1 typeshops. I have witnessed the decline of Wolverhampton

town centre over the last 10-15 years. In recent yearsdo not go near the place as the shops have nothing tooffer and the town is dangerous at night. My local town is Bilston. I rarely go in to Wolver-

hampton for shopping. But Bilston does now lackmore of the quality shops. For example there isnowhere to buy DVDs or CDs unless you go to the bigsupermarkets.

Merry Hill has been a disaster for the people ofDudley, but the council thinks pretending it is a towncentre makes everything all right. I will never shopat Merry Hill that would be feeding the cancer thatis killing our community. I know people who shopthere reluctantly, saying there is nowhere else to go.

All towns are suffering, b ut Dudley is the only onewhere the council has thrown in the towel and saidit is not a strategic centre. Forget tourism; Dudleyneeds large shops, Next, TK Maxx. The decline in Dudley, and indeed Wolverhamp-

ton, is a disgrace. There are shops left empty for years,not just months, but no initiative to get people in. Merry Hill is a very good shopping experience

and local town centres need to up their game withmore independent shops offering more unique goods.

The town of Tipton used to be thriving preSandwell days. It had everything you can mention interms of shops etc. But since then focus seems to beon West Bromwich which is unfair. It took 47 years

to get a tunnel built, by which time Tipton hadalready died. The same thing has happened to

Wednesbury both were once thriving towns. West Bromwich at present is extremely poor.

Thank God the regeneration of the area is takingplace. I hope new traders go there and the areareturns to the popular town it used to be many, many

years ago, when the likes of M&S were there. I love my town of Wednesbury, and shop there

every weekend, but it does need a couple of bignames, like Bodycare, Wilkinsons, Argos and Pri-mark, to help it thrive, rather than charity shops,bookies and hairdressers.

Rescue ourBETTER shops would save the tradi-tional high street and bring peopleback from out of town centres, theExpress & Star Your Say Surveyreveals today.

More than 65 per cent of people sayimproving the quality of the shops onoffer would persuade them to shoplocally.

And a significant figure, around 26 percent, say that cheaper parking is their mainpriority when it comes to visiting shops.

Our survey also reveals that out of town cen-tres such as Merry Hill which offer free park-ing now take more than one third of the tradein the region.

While online retailers continue to grow, at theexpense of high street names such as HMV, Jes-sops and Blockbuster, the internet has yet toovertake the traders operating out of shops andis the first choice for 16.3 per cent of our readers.

The figure also includes those who use cata-logues as their main tool for shopping.

This should give comfort to retailers in shopswho are able to offer face to face customer serviceand give people expert advice on their purchases.

Traditional market traders also face a fight toattract our custom.

Only 2.8 per cent look to the market first whenit comes to clothes shopping, according to the

Your Say survey.

OptimismDespite the general decline there is still opti-

mism that town centres can be revived and eventhrive again.

Phil Barnett, chairman of WolverhamptonBusiness Champions, said: Shopping centres aredoing a lot of work to attract new businesses in.

The survey shows that shoppers will come inif there are the big high street names they arelooking for.

This isnt going to happen overnight and towncentres are in for the long haul.

Adrian Bailey, West Bromwich West MP andchairman of Parliaments Business, Innovationand Skills Select Committee, added: Retailhabits are changing. I think town centres have tochange as well.

I still believe that quality shops, if theyremain located in town centres, will draw peoplein.

But town centres will increasingly be seen asplaces to go for leisure and entertainment if theyhave the right mix of venues and restaurants.

But figures concerning the lack of use of tradi-tional markets have prompted Express & Starhistorian Carl Chinn to call for action.

He said: Its a real concern for me.Markets are part of the appeal of a town cen-

tre and I despair at the lack of action of succes-sive governments to do enough about this.

Vibrant, boistrous markets are not just aboutselling goods, they are places for socialising andentertainment.

Thriving town centres are about more thantrade, they are about social well-being.

Out of town centres such as Bentley Bridge in

Wednesfield are the most popularchoices for 22.2 per cent of people seek-ing entertainment, such as the cinemaand bowling alleys.

One of the benefits that comes withgoing to out of town centres is the lureof free parking.

However, the majority of people, 35.3per cent of our respondents, say theynow rarely go out at all.

Local pubs, despite many struggling tostay afloat due to competition from thesupermarkets, still pull in more than onein five people for a pint.

Attracting people into town and citycentres has long been an aim of councilsacross the region and the only way toafford to do so is to bring in a privatepartner who is prepared to invest themoney.

But there has been major disappoint-ment with the decision to abandon long-awaited plans for Wolverhamptons300 million Summer Row shopping cen-tre, leaving the city council working toattract new private investment in thearea in the form of offices, shops, hotelsand housing.

SaferOur survey reveals that almost 44 per

cent per cent of people believe thebiggest priority for town centres is a bet-ter shopping environment while morethan 18 per cent believe there should beefforts made to provide more jobs.

A further 14.1 per cent want cheapercar parks while 13 per cent want theirtown centres to be safer.

Family-friendly mplease 8.5 per cent. Oper cent of people havpublic transport links

Major supermarketsface of town centres suRugeley and Sainsburunder construction inwhile Tesco is also setmer Royal Hospital.

Three hundred jobsRugeley when Tescsuperstore in Power Sthis year.

Despite the investmeised by supermarkets, of E&S readers believeto improve our towns.

According to our sfour in 10 people do

daniel.wainwright@expressandstar.co.uk

Report byDANIEL WAINWRIGHT

Traders are just as concerned for thefuture of town centres as shoppers.

Our survey today shows 65.7 per centof readers think better shops would con-vince them to shop locally with another26.2 per cent needing cheaper parking.

Aaron Sheldon, director of jewellers BJangles, Market Place, Wednesbury saidpeople complain about numbers of take-aways but: They have very few over-heads, and that is why we see so many.

Often you can go in Asda and thenew clothes are cheaper. If the govern-ment helped the small business, it would

help our high streets. Richard Mar-shall, Bearwood Traders Associationchairman, said: A lot of people tell methat Bearwood is full of charity shopsand fast food outlets, when in fact onlythere are only four charity shops andonly six per cent takeaways.

So that is a very small number whenyou think we have 340 shops.

People perceive that the high streethas a high number of empty units whenin fact we are only running at six percent empty units at the moment. There-fore I think when we look at surveys we

have to remember this iour high streets, andtraders association is totion about the reality ou

We are slap bang in tBull Ring, Merry Hill anping park in West Bromgoing to have to compet

But unfortunately tnot want to come to ourthat is a problem.

People feel they cashopping on their local we have to show them t

Wolverhampton

Walsall

Sandwell

Dudley

Staffordshire

The council complains about empty shops butbuilding Crown Wharf and new development madethings worse. They should encourage businesses tofill ALL vacant shops first, regardless of size and onlyconsider new ones if new businesses want to open. The centre needs to attract people with a car and

money to spend and create more of a social mix likethere used to be. More affluent people go to Suttonor Birmingham to shop, eat and for entertainment.

Fix smelly drains and broken pavements, makeparking cheaper (Sutton is 40p an hour), provide be t-

ter shops rather than pound shops and commonchains branches and support small niche traders.Darlaston has been ruined by Asda and the coun-

cil, Walsall is ruined by rip-off parking charges and itis the same in Wolverhampton. Merry Hill, Gallagherand Bentley Bridge retail parks have free parking.

Cannock has a big and ever-growing populationboth central and in the surrounding areas that wouldbenefit greatly from a revamped town centre with bigname stores such as Next, M&S etc. Instead we haveto travel to retail parks in Stafford, Walsall and Tam-worth to get any decent local shopping. Cannockshould be doing everything it can to attract theseretailers to the town centre. Cannock betting shops and charity shops, pubs

and cafes. More shops are needed in Stafford. The council

needs to look at reducing rents to encourage shops.Traffic flow desperately needs to be improved in andaround Stafford. Weekends are terrible, when peoplemake their way into the town to do their shopping.

A park and ride is needed. The town also needs a busstation and cheaper bus fares into the town centre.

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Repeat ocall to cuthe cost o

parking icity centr

Henry Carver, chairman of the WolverhaBusiness Group, received a copy of our dosresults from the Your Say Survey and said it peoples views on town centres were the same

The managing director of Carvers Buildinplies has campaigned for cheaper car parkiother measures to improve the city.

He says he is encouraged that the E&S survrors the priorities of himself and his colleagu

For years we have reported on grand plaregeneration in shopping centres across the but, at the same time, there has been a dropnumber of big name stores. The likes of TKhave left Wolverhampton city centre and moBentley Bridge Retail Park, where parking is

Meanwhile, the Merry Hill Centre in Brierlcontinues to thrive but places like Dudley an

Bromwich have the highest number of emptyfor town centres of their size in the countrydevelopments like the Riverside project in Spromise hundreds of jobs.

Our survey shows two-thirds of people beliparking charges in our towns are either expensive or a bit dear.

In 2011, Mr Carvers Wolverhampton BuGroup gathered a petition of more than 3,500calling for a city-wide cut in parking charges

Councillors were reluctant to do so amid cothat drivers will abandon privately-owned caand clog up the council-run ones instead.

He submitted the petition to WolverhamptCouncil calling for charges to fall to 50p an hcouncil-run car parks. Fees have since beencouncil-owned car parks but not by as muchCarver was hoping.

UrgentThe call from respondents to the E&S Sur

better shops was also seized upon by the bumerchant as the need for urgent action to rfrom the disappointment of the 300 milliomer Row shopping centre scheme, whicscrapped in 2011 after more than seven yearsning.

The aim was to buy up and knock down a

200 businesses but the long wait for compulsochase orders to be enacted meant many closeing derelict sites in their wake owned by different people, rather than the city council

Mr Carver said: Investors do not wantderelict buildings. The best thing to do is tderelict sites and create a sort of blank cangrassing over the area and giving the messathe area is open for business.

The variety and choice in Wolverhamptonrible compared with the likes of Merry Hill. TKdecided to leave the city centre and go to BBridge where there is free car parking. Peoplwant to be ripped off on car parking.

Somewhere like the Touchwood Centre hull gets that balance right. High parking cstop people investing.

Ninder Johal, president of Sandwell ChamCommerce said: I think what all councils shois find a balance between income generatimake sure that the town centres continue to t

He added: I think the economy comes think jobs come first. I think the more peohave employed, the more likely they are to spethe more people spend, the more chances apeople will start businesses.

Henry Carver with the E&S Your Say Suhigh streets

markets are having a positive dif-while around 37 per cent believey are. Yet with just over one fifth,

r cent, undecided on the benefitsadvantages of supermarkets, itthe likes of Tesco, Sainsburys,nd Morrisons can still win people

hey have the right project.community living around the

Hospital site in Wolverhamptone general consensus among resi-n West Bromwich is that the

ment provided by Tesco is going toeficial in the long run.est Bromwich Tesco has funded

w 10m police station and was thesign up for the 200m New

development. Primark, Next, JDBank, Arcadia, Nandos and

will all open at the site as well as

an Odeon cinema. Overall the schemewill create around 2,000 jobs. JonathanSimpson, corporate affairs manager forTesco, said: We see ourselves as a hugeforce for good.

Weve got fantastic new stores on theway and were bringing great qualtiyfood and products to people who wantconvenient shopping.

ImproveWeve helped to improve local high

streets by working with local traders toincrease footfall.

In West Bromwich weve workedwith Sandwell Council and providedcommunity facilities so we believe wehave a very a positive effect on town cen-tres.

Parking fees remain a cause of concernand controversy and increases are stilllikely due to councils being faced withbudget cuts.

Among our respondents 34.8 per centof people think charges are far tooexpensive while a further 32.6 per centclass them as a bit dear.

Only 29.7 per cent of people thinkparking charges are reasonable and 2.8per cent believe they are cheap.

Charges are likely to go up in Can-nock Chase from April with increasesalso planned in Dudleyas a way of cop-ing with cuts in government funding.

The leader of Dudley Council, Coun-cillor David Sparks, told a committee ofMPs recently that parking charges wereinfluenced by the pressure on councilbudgets.

Councillor Sparks, chairman of the Local Gov-ernment Association Transport Board, said:Dudley and Sandwell were the last metropolitanlocal authorities to introduce parking charges.

The reason why we had to introduce parkingcharges was that central Government insisted weintroduced them, because if we did not, theywere going to cut our transport grant.

So we reluctantly introduced parking chargesand then increased them.

We have had continually to increase themsince, in order to make up for the cuts we havehad to our budgets.

We have very little freedom to manoeuvre.But the essential point is that if you have an

overall pressure on your budget, it is inevitablygoing to influence your decision as to whether

you increase car parking charges.Most people will be reluctant to increase car

parking charges. Some people will not be, butmost people will be and therefore you would onlydo it reluctantly.

In Wolverhampton fees for parking at nightwere introduced in 2010 and were met withopposition from restaurant owners and traders.

The fees were eventually scrapped and the citycouncil has since reduced its parking fees andfrozen them for two years.

The cost of an hours parking fell from 60p to50p at School Street, Market and Fold Street carparks last April while 13-week season ticket feesat Oxford Street and Church Lane fell from 90to 80. Stafford Council has frozen its car park-ing charges since 2007 and is using this fact as ittries to negotiate to get more national chains tomove into the town centre.

But the councils leader Mike Heenan believesthat rents are as much of an issue as parkingcharges.

RentsHe said: The first thing that really is an issue

and has been for some time, which is out of thecontrol of the council, is the level of rent in thetown, said Councillor Heenan, who was a found-ing member of Staffords Chamber of Commerce.

The rents in the main street and throughoutthe town have been kept fairly high in recenttimes. There hasnt been any reduction in them,but I think that is about to happen. Im hopingthat will encourage more people to come in to thetown.

Council parking charges in Kidderminster ,Bewdley and Stourport are also being frozen.

Institute of Advanced Motorists chief execu-tive Simon Best said councils up and down thecountry were making a f ortune from parking.

He added: Councils are making record-break-ing profits from parking, while cutting roadsafety spending on life-saving services such as,education for young drivers, cycle training, andsafe-routes-to-schools schemes.

Meanwhile private operators have begunreducing fees. NCP in Freer Street, Walsall,introduced a 3 all-day charge last summer toreplace the original 7.50 fee, along with freespaces on a Sunday.

The private operators also brought in a similarprice in Station Street in the town centre in therun-up to Christmas. The company is now alsolooking at slashing the fees to 1 for drivers whopark for up to an hour, and 2 for those using thecar park for two hours or less.

Fees have also been cut at the Wulfrun Centreand Pipers R ow in Wolverhampton by NCP.

The changes in Walsall have helped spark areduction on council-owned car parks which haveintroduced 3 a day spaces.

own has had time to investphen Briscoe wants to supportshops but says his town centreregenerating.

phen Briscoe took part in the Yoururvey because he is so concernedthe future of his town centre.admits to visiting Merry Hill

use of its convenience, but alsoto get into Dudley as much as heo that he is supporting his local.phen, aged 47, who lives inry Road, Dudley, said: I like toin Dudley town centre as it stillores like Iceland, the Co-op andcks as well as some decent inde-

ent shops. But the town hasnt gotthing I want, and so I have to go

rry Hill to get the rest.u cant do a big weekly shop in thecentre, which is why places like

ew big Tesco and the Sainsburysrry Hill tend to do well.

Visite married contract cleaner says heto use the cinema at Castle Gate,e does visit local pubs, but sayswn needs regenerating.

here has been plenty of time overast 20 years for the council tot in the town, but it hasnt done,

has gone the other way, he said.ow Dudley has got one of the high-

let rates in the country, and whate seeing coming to the town nowre betting and loan shops as welle-aways, and this has changed the

re of the town.phen says Dudley has plenty ofwhich do help to draw people to

own centre, adding: All Dudley

is one or two good shops.hen we had Beatties and Wool-

hs they brought a certain type ofper to the town. Stephen agrees

that if the shopping environment

were to improve, then it would givethe town a lift and also says parkingis a big issue when Merry Hill is free.

People object to paying even 50p to

park in the centre of Dudley if they

are just going in for a cup of tea, hesaid. I think the solution would beto have free parking and to have a carboot-style market.

Resident Stephen Briscoe in Dudley High Street, by the outdoor market