and….

Saved from the later phases of the project – so don’t hold your breath – Owl

Transforming British transport

Shopping centre in Newport sells for less than the price of a London flat

The troubled Kingsway Shopping Centre in Newport, Gwent, went for £615,000, almost £400,000 below its guide price weeks after going into receivership.

Emily Braeger www.express.co.uk

The sale of the city centre site, which is home to Starbucks and Sainsbury’s, is another major blow to the struggling high streets of Britain which have been “slowly depleting for years”.

Dave Sayce, owner of Compare My Move, told the Express: “Sadly, the sale of the Kingsway is a sign of the times.

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“The high street has been slowly depleting for years now and has really struggled to compete with the ease and variety of online shopping.”

Kingsway – which currently provides space for 36 retail units, an office space, a gym, and a car park – was put on the market after its previous leasehold owners were placed into liquidation due to financial difficulties.

An unknown buyer has snapped up the leasehold on the centre for £85,000 less than a cramped 492 square foot one bed flat in Kensington, London, which is going for £700,000 on Rightmove.co.uk.

Traditional retailers in recent years have been battling the growth of online shopping, fragile consumer confidence and rising costs.

While businesses and shoppers in Kingsway welcomed the new owner, some said they were anxious to hear of plans to increase footfall in the struggling centre, where many units are currently vacant.

Jason Young, 52, runs the Eazability store selling mobility scooters and a range of sofas for people with difficulties but says he is considering the future of the store at the centre as his lease is due for renewal.

He said: “We have been in the town centre for 20 years and I’d like to stay but we haven’t heard what the new owners’ plans are yet.

“They need to fill the empty shops but the best way of doing that is to drop the rents. They need to get people who want to stay.

“I’d like to move into a bigger unit, and I am considering what was Shoezone, but I’m also thinking of going to Cwmbran. For now, I’ll be here until at least Christmas.”

Shopper Brenda Powell, 76, a retired Sainsbury’s worker, said the centre used to be “bustling” with life and shops.

She said: “Going back 20-25 years you had loads of shops in there and people would shop there all the time. It was absolutely bustling in there.

“But I think the council has driven people out of the town centre. You have retail parks popping up out of town and people go elsewhere.

“There are other problems too. The rents are obviously too high because none of the businesses stay. They seem to move all the time. One week they’re here and then they’re in another part of town.

“Also, people shop online and the economy at the moment I suppose people just don’t have the money.”

Sisters Cerys and Chantelle Vaughan, 47, and 44, respectively, were visiting the centre from their home up the valley in Ebbw Vale after a medical appointment in Newport but left empty-handed.

Cerys said: “We just had a look around as we don’t come into Newport very often, but we didn’t see anything we wanted.”

Chantelle added: “It needs to have more shops in there. It could do with some cheap shops selling kids clothing.”

Nowadays, big purchases involve clicks, not shopping trips, as Britons are still struggling with cost pressures.

According to a recent study by Virgin Red, 65 per cent of UK adults have stopped shopping for non-essential items, while 15 per cent admitted they have been forced to cut out shopping sprees completely.

More than half (55 per cent) are holding back because of the guilt of splashing out while others are struggling.

And 60 per cent reckon this change in approach isn’t fleeting, as the current economic crisis will have a long-term impact on their shopping habits.

That is why the Daily Express is campaigning to save our high streets – not only shops but cafes, restaurants, and entertainment.

There is hope for struggling shopping centres like Kingsway. According to Newport-based commercial property expert Dan Smith, of M4 Property Consultants, the secret to the centre’s future success could be to fill the units with more varied tenants.

He cited nearby Newport Arcade as an example of a shopping area now thriving with a mix of tenants. Newport Arcade includes a florist, a coffee shop, an art gallery, and a skate store.

Niamh Eadie, who repurposes disused buildings, agreed, saying: “It is imperative that local councils and central government unite in their efforts to revitalise our high streets by encouraging people back to live within our city centres.

“The transformation of disused buildings is essential to achieve this. for this. This will encourage a diverse range of retailers to occupy empty units, catering to the needs and enhancing the lives of the residents.”

Alex Schlagman of the Save the High Street campaign said: “These shopping centres can now turn this challenge into an opportunity for positive change, using vacant space to incubate high street start-ups and independent traders on more flexible contracts and with the support they need to succeed locally.”

A spokesperson for Newport City Council said: “As the freeholder for the Kingsway Centre, Newport City Council has a role in considering potential leaseholders.

“Our priority is to ensure there is confidence in any new investor and that they share our aspirations for the city centre. We now look forward to detailed discussions following the auction.

“The retail market generally is in an incredibly difficult position. We currently provide a range of business rate relief to retailers in the city centre and will work with any new developer to ensure ongoing viability.”

One of the UK’s largest Conservative-run councils has warned it faces “financial meltdown” and has called on ministers to fix the “broken” local government funding system to avoid it and many other authorities plunging into effective bankruptcy.

What was it Simon Jupp said: “If you can’t run a council……..”?

Patrick Butler Social policy editor

Hampshire county council said without a major overhaul of council finances in England – which it admitted was unlikely to come in time to prevent cuts – it would be forced to push ahead with drastic reductions to local services over the next 18 months, and could face insolvency by 2026.

The council has to find £132m by April 2025 to help fill a widening budget gap but has said it cannot rely on operational cuts and council tax rises alone to balance the books without ditching “safe” levels of core service.

A paper to a meeting of the council’s cabinet next week states that “these are not problems we can fix on our own and that the government must intervene if we and the whole of the local government sector are to avoid financial meltdown”.

Hampshire hit the headlines last year after publishing a joint letter with Kent county council to Rishi Sunak warning that failure to properly fund local government in England would see the two councils “sleepwalk into financial disaster”.

The situation has not improved since for either council. Kent’s auditors said last month it may have to issue a section 114 statement of effective bankruptcy, a prospect the council says it is confident it can avoid. The wider picture for local authorities is bleak: Birmingham city council declared itself effectively bankrupt last month and several others have said that is a realistic prospect for them, too.

Havering council in east London, which is run by a coalition of residents’ association independents and Labour, has warned that even pushing through “unpalatable” levels of cuts to services may not be enough to balance its budget, which faces a £23m gap this year, rising to £31m in 2024.

The Havering council leader, Ray Morgon, said in a recent blogpost: “I’m afraid I can’t shy away from the fact that the situation is desperate. We are now at the point where bankruptcy (by the issuing of what is known as a section 114 notice) could happen in the next six to 12 months.”

Hampshire says it will have to drain reserves to meet budget gaps as well as introduce “bare minimum” levels of service to avoid bankruptcy. This would mean focusing solely on services it is legally obliged to provide, such as social care.

At the same time, it would cut or end funding for “discretionary” services, including community transport and museums. Other areas earmarked for cuts include libraries, household waste recycling centres, school crossing patrols and grants to local charities.

The paper to be considered by the council’s cabinet next week says 2025-26 “represents the crunch point for the county council’s budget; either the government steps in with additional funding or legislates to reduce the range of statutory responsibilities that we are required to undertake”.

It says the local government finance system is broken, adding: “Since 2018 the county council has (publicly and consistently) said that without fundamental changes to the way in which local government is funded, it will not be financially sustainable. This position is becoming a reality as we head towards 2025/26.”

The leader of Hampshire county council, Rob Humby, said: “For a long time now, we’ve been very clear about the huge budget pressures facing the county council by April 2025, and, like many local authorities nationally, our budgets are stretched to breaking point.”

He added: “We know that council tax increases alone are not enough to plug the gap, and with no sign of government stepping in to provide a short-term budget lifeline or long-term sustainable funding solution to councils like Hampshire, we must take action now and plan to meet the budget shortfall ourselves.”

The Local Government Association (LGA) estimates councils in England face a deficit of at least £3bn over the next two years, as they juggle rising costs and demand, especially in adult and children’s social care. The LGA chair, Shaun Davies, urged the government to “come up with a long-term plan to manage this crisis”.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “The Local Government Finance Settlement for 2023/24 makes available up to £59.7bn for local government in England, an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £5.1 billion or 9.4% in cash terms on 2022/23. For Hampshire County Council, this represents an increase in Core Spending Power of up to £90.2m or 9.4% – making available a total of up to £148.4 million in 2023/24.”