02/10/2009

And the latest news on Aberystwyth's town centre development is....there is no news.

The many people eager for news about the next plans for the development of the old sorting office site in Aberystwyth town centre will have to wait a little longer.

A meeting of the County Council’s ‘Economic Development, Tourism and Europe Overview and Scrutiny Committee’ (24 syllables in that) heard yesterday that the developer had come up with a new scheme and had discussed it with the National Assembly but that the Council had not been involved in those discussions. Councillors present expressed surprise and concern that Council officers hadn’t been involved at all and drew the conclusion that they had been sufficiently stung by the furore over the last set of proposals, involving the demolition of a substantial section of small shops, to want to distance themselves from any new proposals as much as possible. It’s not clear where this stance leaves local input and accountability.

When they eventually reach the light of day, the new proposals will be reported via the Council’s Cabinet.

The Committee heard that discussions were being held with the National Assembly about the possibility of Aberystwyth becoming a Strategic Regeneration Area (SRA) and that it was hard to proceed with any major developments until this was decided upon.