Society calls an end to Llanelli town centre

2007 was quite frankly a disastrous year for our town centre. Headline after headline in the Llanelli Star bought news that another national chain was to withdraw from the formerly bustling town streets. It’s predator, Trostre Retail Park, located on the eastern outskirts, with acres of big shops and ample car parking space. Many love the new retail parks, many others compare it to hell. The national chains have bolstered their presence in this west Wales town, providing employment and a notion of prosperity, but at what cost. Do we benefit from their attention or have we surrendered our independence and freedom of choice?

Of course, the decline has happened over many years, but this year the nails were struck into the coffin. I am often told that the big problem started during the 1960’s, when half the town centre was demolished in the name of progress and modernity. The town is littered with the progressive but regressive architecture of that era, although far worse examples are found elsewhere. A popular saying amongst public servants is that the town planner at the time did more damage the town than the Germans ever could.

Looking at postcards and photographs of the ‘old’ Llanelly herald wonderful images of streets of busy shops and pubs, a tram system and trolleybuses, a marvellous market hall and of general prosperity. Of course, this prosperity is seen with rose-tinted spectacles as the people of the time lived in poverty and had uncomfortable lives working in the heavy industries.

Today, looking at our town relative to other parts of the Kingdom and even Europe, there are parts of Llanelli that still suffer from poverty. But generally, people are richer, own expensive assets such as houses and cars, have more disposable income and live more comfortable lives working in the service sectors or in the health and safety aware industries. So, why is this wealth not reflected in the town centre, in the variety of shops providing both value and premium products and services? Why are there no more restaurants? Where are the trams?

Llanelli has suffered from the ‘free market’ as many other Welsh towns have over the decades. We live in a society where the big corporations force their will on people. There are many examples of locals in other places fighting against large companies, the obvious example being Tesco. Despite objections from residents, Tesco are able to fund expensive legal battles to succeed in building their stores all over the country.

Governments have failed over a long time to protect the consumer and regulate the retail sector. We live in a nation where small traders are struggling to compete against the corporations as they continue to be bombarded from every direction. This substantially limits the choice of the consumer and places too much dependence on large companies. There is no way this can be called a free market without further regulation to remove the astronomical competitive advantage held by corporations.