BRIDGEND: Rhiw Shopping Centre handed £350k as Wales launches town centre taskforce

Bridgend’s Rhiw Shopping Centre has been handed £350,000 towards its regeneration, as the Welsh Government launched a taskforce it says will champion the future of Welsh town centres.

The money supports the future regeneration of the arcade Bridgend Council bought for £5.37m in March, when it stepped in over fears for the ageing building’s future.

It was announced alongside £654,000 for public realm improvements in Bangor, around £1m of new town centre funding in total, during a ministerial visit to the north Wales city.

The new Town Centre Taskforce will be co-chaired by Tamsin Ramasut and Professor Simon Gibson CBE, and will provide what the Welsh Government describes as practical, expert advice on supporting the future of Wales’s town centres.

Establishing the taskforce was one of the new government’s commitments for its first 100 days.

Working with members drawn from business, local government, regeneration, planning, academia and communities, the co-chairs will oversee a programme of work leading to recommendations for Welsh ministers.

Ms Ramasut is a regeneration, placemaking and community engagement practitioner who has supported projects across Wales through Pont Collective and previous roles.

Professor Gibson founded the Alacrity Foundation and previously held leadership roles at Wesley Clover, Ubiquity Software and the Welsh Development Agency.

Siân Gwenllian, Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning, said town centres remained “at the heart of communities across Wales”, as places where people work, access services and take part in civic and cultural life.

But she said they continued to face significant challenges from changing consumer behaviour, economic pressures and the evolving role town centres play in everyday life.

The taskforce, she said, would “identify actions to help challenge decline, encourage changes in use to increase footfall, support Welsh businesses, attract investment and strengthen the long-term vitality of towns and city centres”.

Ms Ramasut said town centres were central to thriving communities, “places where people connect, local businesses grow and provide employment and create a sense of belonging”. Professor Gibson said the challenges facing town centres “demand urgent action and fresh thinking”.

In Bridgend, the Rhiw’s troubles are well documented: dangerous RAAC concrete forced the closure of its indoor market hall in 2023, and the council warned when it bought the site that the building was nearing the end of its life, with long-term plans that could include a new market, shops, community facilities and homes.

The town’s Post Office moved into the arcade last month as demolition work began around Wyndham Street, part of the wider redevelopment already reshaping the town centre.

The taskforce was trailed earlier this week in the Welsh Government’s response to Westminster’s high street crackdown. The Welsh Government has not said when it will report.