£90m 'Transforming Towns' project to help high streets

Hannah Blythyn: "We need to refocus our efforts on town centres"

A £90m project to revitalise high streets has been launched, including encouraging more public sector services in town centres to increase footfall.

The Welsh Government's Transforming Towns money will also be used to bring empty buildings back into use.

Ben Cottam, a director at FSB Wales which supports businesses, said it was time to start "rethinking what a high street looks like".

In Flintshire, police, council and job centre staff share town centre offices.

Flintshire Connects allows people to get help with things like welfare and housing issues in five town centres in the county.

Buckley town centre manager Andy White said, while the town library-based service was "brilliant" and brought in more people, putting it in an even more central location could potentially be more beneficial.

"It's all about location," he said. "It's key."

Flintshire council services have moved into the library in Buckley town centre

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About 40% of the population lives in small towns like Buckley with populations of less than 20,000 so "they are really important to the Welsh economy", according to Mr Cottam.

He said not all vacant high street units would necessarily be filled by retail businesses in the future "so rethinking what a high street looks like, is what we really need to start looking at now".

"There is a bit or urgency," he said.

"We are seeing town centres and high streets in decline so we need to get going on some of these measures."

Rhyl is undergoing a multimillion pound regeneration by Denbighshire council

The Welsh Government programme includes a "town centre first" approach, locating public services and buildings in town centres wherever possible. The funding includes:

• £36m for town centre regeneration projects

• £13.6m to tackle empty and dilapidated buildings and land

• £10m of additional funding a town centre loans scheme to bring vacant and under-utilised buildings back into use

• £5m funding for green infrastructure and biodiversity within town centres

Hannah Blythyn, Deputy Minister for Housing and Local Government, made the announcement during a visit to Rhyl's Queen's building, a former arcade which has received £5m towards a conversion into retail and food outlets, a market, offices and flats as part of a wider £16.5m regeneration.

"We're taking action to bring empty and derelict properties in our town centres back into use and our 'town centre first principle' will help bring increased footfall and vibrancy," she said.

"Taken together these measures will make a significant contribution to the health of our town centres."