Welsh Labour’s Lead candidate for Sir Gaerfyrddin has called for a Senedd inquiry into Town Centres, including those in Carmarthenshire. He cited poor planning and lack of vision by the Plaid Cymru led local authority and neglect of smaller towns such as Ammanford.
While calling for a Senedd inquiry, Welsh Labour’s Calum Higgins said:
“The lack of focus and fairness for town centres across Carmarthenshire has been coming up on the doorstep. There have been some poorly thought out purchases in Carmarthen by the Plaid Cymru led Carmarthenshire County Council, and a lack of investment in towns like Ammanford and Llanelli because money is being sucked up by white elephants.
Take the former Debenhams store in Carmarthen as an example. The building has a defect and is not fit for purpose after being purchased from the private sector, it may cost the Carmarthenshire tax payer millions in repairs. Carmarthenshire Council have also purchased the former Wilko building in Carmarthen, which remains empty with no publicly announced plan for the future of the building.
This money could have been spread equally across our county, and used on schools or our town centres in places like Ammanford and Llanelli.
We obviously support investment in Carmarthen, but we cannot be taking liabilities off the private sector and running up bills like this for 2 former shops in one town.”
On what the Senedd should be doing to scrutinise local authorities, Mr Higgins said:
“As lead candidate for Welsh Labour in Sir Gaerfyddin’s Senedd election, if elected I’ll be calling for an inquiry into how taxpayers money can be better spent spent on supporting town centres, and how local authorities should be ensuing smaller towns get their fair share.
The County Councils income is mainly from a block grant from the Welsh Government, therefore the Welsh Government need to question why this money is being spent on empty shops when there is a long list of school buildings in Carmarthenshire that need replacement.”
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