Shopping in Colwyn

The news that £14m has been awarded to Colwyn Bay by the WA seems - on the face of it - good news. However, the thoughts of those in power are turning to sea defences, Station road and possibly improving the shopping areas generally.

Colwyn Bay has always lived in the shadow of its famous neighbour, Llandudno, which isn't without its own problems. However, Llandudno has one significant and massive advantage over Colwyn Bay and that's in the town planning. Not the current town planning, but that which took place in the 1800s. Llandudno has Mostyn Street - a wide, spacious area which itself attracts visitors, simply because it's so pleasant to walk down. Colwyn Bay has a much narrower main road, which snakes through the town, bordered on either side by four-storey buildings. The effect of the narrowness is keenly felt and sharply accentuated by the height of the buildings on either side. To really make a significant difference to Colwyn Bay it's probably necessary to start again, by demolishing those high buildings at the narrowest stretch of road in the very centre, widening the road and then permitting new and carefully controlled construction at the width of Mostyn Street. Problem is, that's very unlikely to happen for many reasons, but it ought not to stop the Colwyn council thinking big. Tweaking, patching and fixing always tend to leave the place looking roughly the same, and what Colwyn Bay needs is a major reconstitution, to revitalise its tourist industry. After all, the best beaches are in the Bay and Rhos, and some of Wales' top ten attractions - the Zoo and the Little Orme. Attract a private investor with imagination and big plans, give 'em some head and stand back.

Two things that would revitalise the area: the reintroduction of trams and the creation of an entirely new attraction: maybe a cable car betwene the beach and the zoo, perhaps, or a permanent ice-rink, or - heaven forbid - even a monorail. But it's big money which needs major investors and a council willing to remove major obstacles quickly.