Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 12:17 am  

Khlav Kalash wrote:

Tileyard North looks a very much welcome addition to the city and will regenerate the old Mills. The city itself needs a full make over, it looks so drab and outdated, and the council need more vision rather than looking to stick affordable housing on ever open space as they seem to want to do with the Chantry House and the old ABC sites. Walking through Leeds and they are spending some real cash smartening the paving areas/public squares and it really makes a difference on perception which bring in new ventures and wealth.

Trinity Walk is a plus not a minus, the Ridings could be so much more and the idea to give a face-lift to the BHS store is a great one. The main thing the council should do is drop the rates to encourage businesses to the city, otherwise its going to be bookies, pound and vape shops galore.

Trinity Walk would have been a great addition to a revamped Wakefield City Centre. It's not Wakefield City Centre! - people go straight there by car without even going near the Springs or Upper Kirkgate!

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:53 am  

Why why why why why does it always have to be grandiose schemes with councils and politicians?

Just spend the money on road sweepers and general maintenance and make all car parking free.

Job done, city centre clean, parking no issue, shoppers will return, shops will be re-occupied, job done.

Overly simple, yes the best plans always are. Real issue, nobody is going to make serious money with my idea, legally or illegally.

If councils stuck to their core tasks, refuse, roads, street lighting etc then the rest would look after itself. Then as and when serious municipal projects were required they would be in a far stronger position to carry them out.

You provide a city that is clean, has the facilities required to attract people then the commercial element will look after itself.

We are not that far off in truth, we have a new hospital, railway station, bus station and two relatively modern shopping precincts. It’s all there it just needs pushing to the wider world.

Redcat is right about Barnsley but a better example is Leeds. In the early 80’s Leeds was a dump, grey and uninviting especially at night. Ten years in it was the most cosmopolitan city outside of London. It’s slipped a bit in recent years but it did transform itself.

We can’t be Leeds but we can be a mini Leeds because all the transport links that made Leeds are replicated in Wakefield. Make Wakefield what it always was, a homely little city that offers you everything the big cities do but on a human scale.

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:07 pm  

Wakefield’s slow demise started way back when the mines and associated industries closed , wage packets were collected weekly and spent in the merry city , and the night life was the talk of the North and beyond . Most northern towns and cities have suffered the same fate and Covid has dealt a further hammer blow . Personally always try my best to get what I can from Wakey as I feel a loyalty to the old girl and got such fantastic memories of the place and a big part of my growing up .Plenty of great places to eat out now and some quality pubs , but daytime trading definitely need a jump start to get folk back into town

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 5:43 pm  

vastman wrote:

Why why why why why does it always have to be grandiose schemes with councils and politicians?

Just spend the money on road sweepers and general maintenance and make all car parking free.

Job done, city centre clean, parking no issue, shoppers will return, shops will be re-occupied, job done.

Overly simple, yes the best plans always are. Real issue, nobody is going to make serious money with my idea, legally or illegally

In some ways I agree with you. The trouble is that often government money like this has to be spent on capital projects (buildings etc.) rather than revenue items like wages and car parking. I agree about the Glass House in Barnsley. People there rave about it and it's not fully operational yet - stores, a great food area etc. It's about ambition and the problems with the market, Trinity Walk and The Ridings seems to seems to have taken that away from the council. I haven't yet seen the plans so I hope that now is the opportunity to show that ambition again.

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 6:36 pm  

My wife used love shopping in Wakefield ,she hasn’t shopped in Wakefield for years now it’s whiterose or Leeds

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:25 pm  

Hopefully, without having solicitors letters through my letterbox, imho one of the biggest reasons for the downfall of Wakefield city centre in recent years is down to one man. I won't state his name but if I called him "Timberbonce" you might have an idea who I mean. He owns a fair percentage of the real estate in the city and from what I gather he charges very high rents for his properties. Crikey, he even has a street in the city centre named after him. If a company like McDonalds has to move out of the centre because of high rents it says a lot. High rents and high business rates have driven a lot of small, and large, retailers and office occupants out of the town. In the Yorkshirre Post this week even Sir Kier Starmer was pleading for a reduction of business rates in Wakefield, a town that he visited regularly when he lived in Leeds, apparently. to prevent the centre from "dying" completely.

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:31 pm  

Redscat wrote:

Hopefully, without having solicitors letters through my letterbox, imho one of the biggest reasons for the downfall of Wakefield city centre in recent years is down to one man. I won't state his name but if I called him "Timberbonce" you might have an idea who I mean. He owns a fair percentage of the real estate in the city and from what I gather he charges very high rents for his properties. Crikey, he even has a street in the city centre named after him. If a company like McDonalds has to move out of the centre because of high rents it says a lot. High rents and high business rates have driven a lot of small, and large, retailers and office occupants out of the town. In the Yorkshirre Post this week even Sir Kier Starmer was pleading for a reduction of business rates in Wakefield, a town that he visited regularly when he lived in Leeds, apparently. to prevent the centre from "dying" completely.

Don't know who you mean (unless it's a former council leader) but your thoughts are spot on. Give businesses a chance, give starts up a chance, bring some wealth generators to the city otherwise it will all disappear to Leeds and Wakefield will become a sorry state of affairs

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 7:45 pm  

The family you mention Redcat is related to me through the marriage of my sister to one of the sons and are indeed one of if not the wealthiest families in Wakefield . I don’t have inside info on their daily activities as far as rents and the like are concerned but it seems a very short sighted business venture to have so many shops empty when I think that now business rates are payed on empty shops which wasn’t the case years ago , and I’ve yet to see anyone with any brass like losing money . Maybe I can have a word at an upcoming gathering if they’ll put a few Bob into the club . As far as I know they have nothing to do with Trinity walk or the Ridings but your correct they do own a large proportion of shops around the town centre. Chicken n egg springs to mind as if rents were lowered rates would follow suite or even a 3/4 month payment holiday may help establish a business

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 8:07 pm  

Kettykat wrote:

The family you mention Redcat is related to me through the marriage of my sister to one of the sons and are indeed one of if not the wealthiest families in Wakefield . I don’t have inside info on their daily activities as far as rents and the like are concerned but it seems a very short sighted business venture to have so many shops empty when I think that now business rates are payed on empty shops which wasn’t the case years ago , and I’ve yet to see anyone with any brass like losing money . Maybe I can have a word at an upcoming gathering if they’ll put a few Bob into the club . As far as I know they have nothing to do with Trinity walk or the Ridings but your correct they do own a large proportion of shops around the town centre. Chicken n egg springs to mind as if rents were lowered rates would follow suite or even a 3/4 month payment holiday may help establish a business

Interesting that, Ketty. I'm not trying to be disrespectful to your relative, but I used that pseudonym for him as a clue to whom I was referring. If he would care to decant some of his fortune into the Trinity coffers it would be much more public spirited than naming a street after himself, and maybe he could think again and offer some of those empty city centre properties at a lower rent to would be traders.

Re: Future of Wakefield City Centre : Sun Nov 14, 2021 8:34 pm  

I think by my name you can tell where I live Redcat and that wealth is down one side of the family , so I’m hardly in a position to question why they do what they do which has been so successful for them in the past . I used to regularly attend the games with my brother in law when Richardson was in charge , but was reluctant to have anything to do with him at that time for reasons I won’t go into . Going back to the town centre problems , it seems the obvious thing to do for us on the outside looking in , and i have broached the subject on more than one occasion. They must have their reasons why they don’t lower rents to get empty shops filled . As ive said I’m hardly in a position to call them as they are very successful in what they do but I certainly don’t understand it , maybe too much coal dust on the brain .