Deganwy Letters in Weekly News

Deganwy is open for business, and still remains an excellent place to stop, shop and eat.

2 weeks ago Victoria Stanley, Station Rd resident and Conservative candidate for Local elections next year, wrote a letter that appeared in the Weekly News.

Vikki's comments refer to low trade in the shops, negativity, car parking, yellow lines, and lack of community spirit.
"Who wants to stop in Deganwy:  HELLO, Deganwy is on the map.

What has our village done that we cannot get any funding for car parks or even decent Christmas lights.

We are on a main road through to Llandudno. Nobody wants to stop because you cannot park. It looks an eyesore. There is no community spirit.

The council now wants to put yellow lines everywhere. We used to have thriving local businesses. We have a train station, that basically is a dump, the bridge is need of painting, litter on the line. Who wants to stop here?

A few local shops tried to get some Christmas spirit going, but shop owners are so negative because of poor trade that the plan fell flat on its face. When is the council going to wake up and encourage a local community, instead if taking all the time?

I suppose if we had the Welsh Assembly building we would get rejuvenated like the Junction. We have the Quay Hotel which employs locals as well as others and yet we cannot offer decent local facilities for their guests. We are on the map, take note, we want some input."


This week there is a response form Elaine Pritchard,owner of P3 Ladies Designer Wear in Deganwy

"No negativity from my shop: As a successful businesswomen I feel aggrieved at the comments expressed by Victoria Stanley about trade in Deganwy Village.

I must stay that I for one am in the "Christmas Spirit". My shops have been decorated for the past two weeks and we are very busy with customers who are able to park though the parking situation is limited.

There are those who also come on buses or trains. We do not actually have a train station. It is a request stop and lots of people do use it.

However, I wholly agree with Victoria's comments regarding the bridge and litter. Hopefully the railway company concerned will act accordingly.

I have been trading in Deganwy for 12 years and as we continue to thrive year upon year am very fortunate to have the support of loyal customers who are local and also come from far and wide.

Even though there is an economic downturn, we have been successful enough to recently expand our business in Deganwy.

The comment of poor trade is not applicable to P3. In P3 there is no negativity."

There are a few issues that have come out of these exchange of letters.

The first is the negativity, one thing I have tried to discourage is to express negativity so publicly. In my opinion there is nothing  worst to put people off visiting the area than people bringing it down with negative comments.
The reality is that compared to a lot of areas, Deganwy is doing well. You only have to look down the parade and see there are very few empty shops. This has been the case for the at least the period while I have been a Councillor. Yes occasionally there have been an empty shop or 2, but the shops do change hands. This creates an exiting and dynamic variety of shops, restaurants and business in Deganwy.
It is a shame that one of the shop keepers had some really good ideas to create a even better festive feel in Deganwy, with extra signage, decorations and craft stalls. I spoke to the shop owner on a couple of occasions and managed to attract a grant of £350 to put towards the event. It is true to say that the lack of support and negativity from a couple of people did knock the shop owner, who in the end gave up on the ideas. This was a great shame, and meant the grant was never taken up. None of these people are related with P3.
The only comments I have made on the shops is that I do believe some could do with promoting themselves, so people who don't know what is in Deganwy known why they should come and have a look. I also made a comment this year, that I felt it was disappointing that not all the shops are open on Sundays. But I know the shops have there reasons.

A big welcome to the new Thai restaurant that has just opened in Deganwy, the latest a several new business that have chosen Deganwy as the base for their trade.

Car Parking: the biggest issue here is the we can all see an excellent opportunity and that is the former Station Land adjacent to the railway. This land is in private ownership and has until recently had planning permission for a bar/restaurant. There were hopes earlier this year that the land had been sold but alas no joy here. No joy is probably an understatement due to the passing of the former owner of this land earlier this year.
I don't know about anyone else but, I never have a problem parking in the village. There is a combination of on road parking limited to 1 hour/2 hours and the car parking. Yes the car park is chargeable except for the 2 free car parking bays that I was able to introduce.
You could argue for the car park to be free, like the other on in Deganwy on Deganwy Rd. But the issue here is it would be taken up with shop and office workers, leaving limited space for visitors. If you made it free but limited time, this would mean a traffic warden having to regularly visit to control it, and if there is anything I get contacted about is when the traffic wardens are in Deganwy "putting off" visitors.
There is always issues with Car Parking and yes it would be good to have more spaces, but I also believe if people wanted to stop they could. As we have heard from Elaine, the customers of P3 can still find ways and means to visit the shop. This is just one example of the businesses that attract visitors into the village.

The yellow lines, issue I assume relates to York Rd, where consultation has recently happened into putting yellow lines on the 2 bends. This is to try and make the road safer for 2 way traffic. This has been in the pipeline for sometime and was raised as a big issue by locals when the Deganwy Mews houses where built behind York Rd.

Community Spirit: I refute the suggestion by Vikki that Deganwy does have a community spirit. It has in fact got a great deal of community spirit, the issue is that it is quite diversely spread around the village. I believe due to the geographical layout of the village, with the village cut with The Vardre right through the middle, it means we don't have a conventional village centre. Through my role as Councillor you do get to see that there are pockets of community spirit around the village, but it related to different resident groups, communities of the churches/chapel, the school and other groups (E.g. Friendship, WI, clubs, History of Deganwy).

The one main time that the whole village do get together is during the now annual Deganwy Prom Day, of which Vikki has been a valued member of the committee for the last couple of years. This is a great event, and it is great to see to see people from all over Deganwy and Llanrhos all down on the Promenade to enjoy the events and entertainment.

More money from CCBC, yes that would be nice wouldn't it. I have spoken with some people who have some very exciting ideas of how the the whole read system could be changed to encourage people to slow down and stop. Alas this does need money. Money which CCBC does not have alone. The problem here is that you need the assistance of the Welsh Government to spend such money, and they generally will concentrate their efforts on Strategic Regeneration Areas. Something that Deganwy due to its demographics and location has continually missed out on.
Some money has been spent on Deganwy, not all by the shops and we are due to have the Public Conveniences  not only saved, but also being refurbished. I have also encouraged CCBC to bring the kiosk back into use on the Prom.
But compared to some areas it is not bad, in fact I think Deganwy is a lovely place to visit.

There are not many places where you have such a diverse selection of business, with fantastic views across the estuary. Places to shop, eat and visit. Able to get there by path, road, bus, train and boat (not forgetting the River Taxi). Then be able to walk/cycle along the estuary path to Conwy, Deganwy Quay Hotel and Marina or to West Shore, or how about take a walk onto the Vardre and to the Deganwy Castle to see the results of the recent conservation project implemented by CADW.

I think that once the Deganwy Castle Hotel development happens it will freshen up that end of the Station Rd. That reminds me I must put in some calls to see where that is up to, no sign of the Planning Application that was expected to have been submitted by now.

Deganwy is open for business, and still remains an excellent place to stop, shop and eat.