what would you like to see built in nuneaton

[ady75]

so with a new and yet another supermarket being built in nuneaton, is this a good or bad thing for the town?, if you had the choice to bring something new to the town what would it be?, another shop? an entertainment venue? or something completely different maybe.

[Shizara]

One thing that is a certainty, we have more than enough shops and a good number of them are empty. There are enough nightclubs and pubs around the town and we have a nightmare of a road system where it seems that to keep traffic out of the town centre, cars are fed into a ring road that frustrates motorists and pedestrians alike. But, aside from that, maybe a model village or a living museum depicting Nuneaton as it was through the centuries, perhaps from Saxon times to say they 1800's. A living museum would probably encourage interactive activity, much like the Black Country Museum but more unique because it could hark back to say Saxon times. It could even be a sort of time line, as you round the next corner or walk through a tunnel, under a bridge, it has subtly moved forward a century........

..... Yes, I know, my imagination runneth away again.

[cathidaw]

I would like to see more places for young people to 'hang around' in. Every weekend the towns -not just Nuneaton- are full of young people in the 15 - 17 age group - wandering the town, meeting friends and then being moved on which aggravates both sides. And causes trouble.
We need places -r in the town- definitely not out in the sticks- where teenagers can meet and do what they like doing best- nothing except chatting and just being.
Most of them work hard in the week at school.
Why do the planners think all teenagers should be sporty?
There are plenty of expensive sports centres but not every teen wants sport-
A building,nicely converted, properly supervised , where they are free to drop in and out .and do nothing if they wish. a non alco. place of course, and open when it's needed evenings up to 10ish Sundays too, and cheap.
I have friends in Banbury whose sons and daughters go to town at weekends and wander around with their friends, so it's not just here. When the shops shut there are only pubs , KFC and Macdonalds. which are expensive if they sit long enough because there is nowhere else to go.
It's easy to say they should be at home by then ,but these are teenagers.
The ideal would be a couple of the empty shops - nicely converted and open when they are needed most Sundays and weekends 'ti 10 ish.
It would cost, but not as much as the policing in the town at present. Everything is dow to money but sometime spending money saves it in the long run.
If only my name was Branson.

[Peter Lee]

Just picking up on this interesting conversation. Are you aware that from being a boom town in the 50's and early 60's Nuneaton (and Bedworth) has lost 50% of its jobs. 38.9% in the last ten years. We are also the most deprived Borough in Warwickshire. We have:
The highest unemployment
The lowest per capita income
Highest crime rate
Lowest educational achievement
12% of the population are physically impaired or long term ill in some way
We have shorter lives than other boroughs in the county
Some of the worst air pollution in the county
Also a disproportionally high number of single mothers

49% of the working population commute outside of the Borough to work.

You have to know the bottom line before building from the base.

Of course, there are empty shops and we are no different to many other towns and cities throughout the country. Town and city centres are dying and are generally being replaced by out of town shopping developments. The Ricoh is a good example locally.

Nuneaton town centre has fared better than most but there are simple reasons - a thriving street market. That helps to keep people in town. Plus key stores like the Co-Op, Debehams and the Rope Walk traders. Bedworth has lost its on street market and in my view large supermarkets there have drained shoppers away from some of the shopping streets.

The way to build back in Nuneaton would be to abolish car parking fees. People would return to the town centre and not travel to the outlying shopping areas.

Make the two town centres enterprise zones so that shopkeepers rates are reduced and possibly charged as a percentage of turnover. Or some other creative way of working with local businesses to encourage enterprise.

Encourage specialised small traders (antique dealers, second hand book shops, specialist food shops etc. etc.) by giving them zero rated premises to start up for 3 years.

In addition encourage on-line enterprises in Nuneaton & Bedworth by having an on line resource centre. To give technical help to traders wishing to set up in the area.

The glittering prize would be to reinvigorate the businesses along a corridor from Coventry City Centre through Bedworth Town centre to Nuneaton build an electric street tramway. Light rail transit systems which stop at frequent intervals on five minute headways increase footfall along the entire route. Electric power is green and sustainable. Bright modern low floor trams are proven wherever they are built to be very popular with the travelling public and encourage people to leave their cars at home. Small communities in France for example are building these down to a population of 150,000 but in our case the catchment area would be 450,000. Electric trams also increase property and commercial values along the entire route.

Once economic activity is thriving in the town centres the rest will follow. Its an entire leap of faith of course, and requires hard work and stamina to achieve.

Peter Lee

PS Coventry has lost 10% of its population in the last 20 years. From 335,000 down to 300,000 due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. Yet current planners want to build 3000 houses in Bedworth, Keresley and the surrounding areas to take the overflow from Coventry!! What sort of madness is that?

[cathidaw]

Hallo Peter Lee,
I'm delighted to see that someone from Nuneaton, hopefully with a 'voice' reads WOL.
I agree with most of what you say, even including the electric tramway -- but-- hold on, other things first.
By 'first' we have to have something to attract people. A good looking town centre full of charity shops, closed shops, and banks, is not enough. The five town centre charity shops, soon to be six if Thorntons go under as is predicted, and which are heavily subsidised could be a starting point for affordable small independent traders. O.k. charity shops are necessary, but five or six in this small space ----duh !
The bottom line has got to be what people want, and really, they don't ask for much. Decent shops , not necessarly major stores.
Bedworth is a small unique town, and we dont need the high street names. Most people have cars nowadays so adventuring out of it is easy.
We aren't big enough and we'd like it to have back please, with it's own individuality as it used to be.
I 'm not saying it should revert back to the bad days when it's popular name was 'Black Beduth' and the town reflected that.
The many small independent shops --in those days, brought people into the town, busloads of people came from all around on market days.
I came here 50 years ago --unwillingly.. it was the cheapest place to buy a house. I hated it for years and wanted to move.
The town of 'old Beduth'' was then quaint, but in poor condition. Dickensian, crumbling and rat infested.. So when the sparklingly new centre was built it was welcomed.But the heart of it had started to fade and when the market was moved off the street into the new hall it died. Most of the interesting shops packed up ,priced out.
No -one comes any more unless they go to the big supermarkets to stock up and go home. Hardly any decent shops left and the boring market just about hanging on with high rents. I wouldn't bother if I lived elsewhere.
And now suddenly...what have we here?
A monstrous Meccano likeTesco Store has crept up on us, covering a quarter of the town, drastically disrupting the traffic and shutting more small shops.
Which fool decided we needed a larger Tesco when the other one was adequate, modern, and relatively new?.
Did the councillors rub their hands together, dreaming of the haul of council tax it would bring in ?..
Did they ask the people? The heck they did. And now it's almost too late.
I am now digressing.
Start at the bottom and get it right. It would be no use having a fancy tramway system coming through Bedworth to to Nuneaton as it is at present. I can't forecast people flocking back to Bedworth after their first visit.
Giving small traders help by reducing rents and zero council tax for a couple or so years as they get established would be a start and as they thrive, which is certain , gradually ask them to pay a small percentage of turnover.
(PS. I know as I had a successful small busines here for 35 years)
The same goes for Nuneaton.
Why does it need any more multiple stores. It too is a relatively small, smart town which does not need to impress - just be itself - as it used to be and give the small trader a chance with the same benefits as I suggested for Bedworth.
And car parking !!
Why do the experts in the council believe that raising the car parking fees will bring more people into the towns.? Do they think we are all going to say "Oh goodee, lets go to Bedworth-or Nuneaton, they've just put up the parking fees"
Things must change or we'll have no towns with their own identity in the very near future.
Thanks Peter Lee for giving me chance to get up on my box for once.
Nothing will come of it but ...Whew.. I feel better now !
As for Coventry, I despair, but that's another tale.

[cathidaw]

Back to the issue of the unnecessary new Tesco here in Bedworth.
I went in today and I didn't think it any better than the other one which has been pulled down.
Then I read today in the Times (is it the truth?) that Tesco has had a n extremely bad year and there is talk of closing some stores.
Let's suppose, in the future, this Bedworth one is on the line, what a catastrophe for this small town, especially as a quarter of it was destroyed to build it.. this has happened all over the country. I also read that last year they bought up hundreds of sites for their future stores.
this too has happened all over the country.
If so where is the monopoly commission in all this.

[Lex]

The glittering prize would be to reinvigorate the businesses along a corridor from Coventry City Centre through Bedworth Town centre to Nuneaton build an electric street tramway. Light rail transit systems which stop at frequent intervals on five minute headways increase footfall along the entire route. Electric power is green and sustainable. Bright modern low floor trams are proven wherever they are built to be very popular with the travelling public and encourage people to leave their cars at home. Small communities in France for example are building these down to a population of 150,000 but in our case the catchment area would be 450,000. Electric trams also increase property and commercial values along the entire route.

The Coventry, Nuneaton & Bedworth line's on it's way!
http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/local-news/new-bermuda-rail-station-nears-8873897

[rebbonk]

I just hope it gets used.

When I was a kid there were plenty of stations along that line and it was well utilised by workers and shoppers alike. I regularly used to travel from Foleshill to Nuneaton to visit my granddad.

Sadly, I see no need (apart from the Ricoh) for this line now. There is little work to commute for and the car has taken over.

[Lex]

I hope it does get used.