Castle Quarter a step closer

“Nottingham has more vacant shop space than any other large centre in the UK, amazingly over 30% of shops are empty there. On that note Swansea and Neath(which i sometimes leave) are looking good at the moment. But with the internet shopping still on the up and up, expect more bad news.”

“PhilEvs
You are right. Cardiff and Bristol also have major office employment in the City Centres too, bringing in more money and footfall. That combination of office / residential / retail / leisure is the key. Swansea just seems to think of shops, car parking & social housing”

“Has Neathboy never left Neath?

Cardiff and Bristol, our nearest major cities, both have city centres that are ideal to live, work and play in.

Swansea let way, way to may major retailers slip into the our of town developments and as a result we're left trying to claw them back.”

“Kasparov 44
Don't tempt the Plannes!”

“Why not demolish the castle while we at it? It's clearly no longer fit for purpose.”

“Neathboy

You are right about the history of course but the process of adaptation in te other direction has begun in most other Cities - just look at Cardiff for instance.”

“StephenG11 people don't want to live in the middle of city's. The trend began over a 100 years ago with the middle classes moving into the suburbs. It's going to be a changing task for our city planners all over the uk as out of town shopping and the internet make deserts of many of our towns and city's. But as with all change people will adapt and so will the places that we live in”

“Neathboy

City Centres aren't just for shops. this historic site, right by the Castle, should be a desirable place to live, it would be in most other Cities.”

“The idea of saving the old buildings is a nice one, but the reality is that restoring and altering what is there for use is massively more expensive than starting again. Nobody is willing to sign up to the terms to restore because of that cost.

The small number of retail units is because it's really not somewhere that anyone is going to visit for shopping.

Neathboy, those 20 a day include out of town units and village shops, not just town centres.

Phil, social housing does not mean affordable housing, we are seeing more and more in the UK that more expensive social housing is being built in order to bring in income that will then subsidise the real affordable housing in other locations.”

“Neathboy, we are in a recession... there are shops closing in out of town parks as well. Open your eyes, or better still, take a walk out of Neath centre and see the real world.”