New store is a draw for visitors to Valleys town

A HUGE new retail store in Merthyr Tydfil has brought more people into the town centre not fewer, councillors have been told.

Councillors were told that there were 69,000 more people visiting the town centre in the 10 weeks after Trago Mills opened on Swansea Road than there were in the 10 weeks before.

Lance Whiteley the Orbit Business Centre manager told members of the council’s regeneration and public protection scrutiny committee that 320,000 visited the town centre in the 10 weeks running up to Trago Mills’ opening in April and 411,000 in the 10 weeks after.

A council officer said: “There was a lot of nerves about Trago coming. The figures have taken us by surprise. There was a fear the town would close but it is kicking on.”

Mr Whiteley explained the council recorded footfall data for the town centre using Geosense, a technology which picks up someone’s mobile phone’s Migration Authorisation Code (MAC) as they enter the town centre.

Merthyr Tydfil is the only council in Wales using the system and it replaced the old system which was no longer fit for purpose.

Mr Whiteley said it is a tool to measure economic activity in the town centre and also measures how many people are return visitors and how many are visiting for the first Trago Mills at Merthyr Tydfill has brought more people to the town centre

time. It provides a breakdown by week, peak times, how long people stay in the town centre and where they are in the town centre.

It also allows the council to compare footfall on specific dates.

Over the weekend of this year’s Merthyr Rising, the town centre welcomed nearly 33,000 visitors and for the Christmas lights switch on there were nearly 26,000.

Asked whether there is an issue with GDPR, Mr Whiteley said it was not an issue because it does not tell them anything else about that person. There is a small variation in the figures for people who do not have phones which is taken into account.

Councillor Gareth Lewis asked if there had been a change in perception towards Trago.

Mr Whiteley said: “We have seen that demand in Merthyr is at an all

time high. We can give instant representations to investors on footfall. Other authorities can’t do that.”

Councillor Malcolm Colbran said: “This is a fantastic tool. There is a high percentage of people who haven’t visited before, hopefully they are coming back again.”

He then asked if they were planning to roll this out to other areas of the county borough and was told there is the potential for it to be used at places like Cyfarthfa Park.

Councillor Chris Barry asked whether it would be expensive to expand the system and Mr Whiteley said it would not be that expensive to grow the GeoSense scheme to other areas.

The chairman of the committee, Councillor Julian Amos said: “This is fantastic data. It is a very impressive operation.”