Stabbed in the back?

We received this from Councillor John Oddy, yesterday:

"Unfortunately, your synopsis of Colwyn Bay is remarkably close to home; the County Council obviously agree with you for they turned down the proposal below in favour of locating Council offices for 600 existing staff in the centre of town...

A proposal that the following town centre improvements be put to the Regeneration Board with the full backing of this Council.
1. Demolish and re-build the indoor market at the bottom of Penrhyn Road. The first floor to incorporate a drop-in style café with Council help and information office and a supervised Children’s adventure area.
2. Pedestrianise Penrhyn Road in the same style as Station Road.
3. Fit Victorian style covered walkways down both sides of Penrhyn Road, Station Road, the shopping areas of Sea view Road and both sides of Conwy Road between Hawarden Road and Woodland Road East.
4. Replace all lampposts in the above mentioned areas with Victorian style cast-iron ones.
My reason for the above proposal is not only as an enhancement to the Town Centre but to enable the Town to accommodate a week-end market the likes of which Tir Prince holds on Sundays.
The market would run down Sea View Road, up and down Station and Penrhyn Road and cumulate with the Indoor Market which could remain open all week.
A market attracts shoppers, both local and visitors, shoppers attract store traders, more shoppers attract a higher quality of store traders, higher quality shops introduce higher quality shoppers.
At a time when we are seeing more and more shops closing in the Bay we have to think of ways in which to entice people back. We, as a Town, could never afford the above improvements so I believe we should take advantage of the Regeneration Grant whilst it is still available.
Councillor John Oddy

The County Council will make millions of pounds by selling-off the land and property that they clear in re-housing their staff but the people of Colwyn Bay and its communities will be the ultimate losers. This Regeneration Grant is the town’s last chance to restore the lost pride it once had. By their selfish and greedy actions the Council have shown their utter contempt for the people of our town and have, once again, stabbed us in the back."

Cllr. Oddy's ideas - no matter what you think of his political affiliations - seem to make sense. Investment to tidy up the town - construction of the walkways and a limited degree of 'theming' in line with the town's heritage - does seem a far better move than making Colwyn Bay an administration centre. The idea of a large market is a double edged sword, of course, but there's no denying that it bring folk into the town, and that - above all - is what Colwyn Bay needs. For many years, Colwyn has been suffering in the shadow of its neighbours - Rhos, Llandududno and Snowdonia - and the question that has to be asked is whether it's possible to regenerate the town or whether, as the CCBC seems to have done, it's time to throw in the towel and reduce even further Colwyn's standing as a tourist detsination.