MS says plans to boost town ‘must go further’
LLANELLI MS Lee Waters says plans to turn around the fortunes of the struggling town centre after the Covid-19 pandemic must give it a fresh sense of purpose.
Mr Waters has urged the council to not just develop a plan for doing-up empty properties, but to go further.
His calls come despite Carmarthenshire Council already having started work on a recovery plan to plot how Llanelli can get back on its feet after several months of lockdown.
Last month, Mr Waters organised an online public meeting and invited experts in town centre regeneration to share ideas for the future of Llanelli to be put to the council.
This included a more imaginative use of Sunken Gardens, bringing a training campus for sixth form students into town, and launching a ‘Meanwhile’ scheme to repurpose empty units on short-term leases.
Carmarthenshire Council’s head of regeneration, Jason Jones, said in a letter to Mr Waters: “It is our intention to finalise what we are referring to as a Llanelli Town Centre Recovery Plan by the end of the month.
“It will be focused on business, people and places.”
Mr Jones added that there would need to be new reasons to visit town at day and at night, a better use of digital to grow footfall, and support for all sectors to adapt property to mixed uses.
Welcoming the council’s commitment, Mr Waters said: “We need fresh ideas for what our town centre is actually for. That’s the only way it can compete with the rise of online shopping and out of town retail.
“Because town is so much more than just a collection of buildings, it is a community, and an experience you can’t get online or at Trostre.”
Carmarthenshire Council leader, Cllr Emlyn Dole, said:
“We have already invested millions of pounds in the town centre with many more plans still in the pipeline, with much funding successfully secured from Welsh Government.
“This will make a huge lasting difference alongside our own capital investment and that from private investors we are currently working on exciting plans with.
“As well as the physical and visual developments, we have been buying buildings from private ownership to ensure they are owned and managed locally with a focus on ensuring there is a range of affordable commercial and residential space for local businesses and people to grow and thrive.
“We believe there is a great future for Llanelli town centre, and our ambitions will be met and strengthened by good partnership working with everyone who has the best interests of the town centre at heart.”
Mr Waters will be fighting to retain his Llanelli seat for Labour in the Senedd elections on May 6.
Also standing in the upcoming election for the Llanelli constituency are John Burree for Liberal Democrats, Helen Mary Jones for Plaid Cymru and Stefan Ryszewski for Conservatives.
A MAN exposed himself to a woman walking to the shops, a court has heard.
The woman challenged Adam Silcox about his behaviour but he simply “grimaced” and carried on.
The quick-thinking shopper was able to get the details of tree surgeon Silcox’s nearby vehicle and gave them to the police.
Swansea Crown Court heard the incident was not Silcox’s first sexual offence and a judge told him he had a “troubling past” of offending.
The incident took place around 9am on June 14 last year near the Morrisons supermarket on the outskirts of Carmarthen.
The court heard how a woman walking towards the supermarket saw the 25-year-old defendant standing at the rear of his parked van in a layby and was shocked and disgusted at his actions.
It was Silcox’s case that he had been driving to his mother’s house in Cardigan when he stopped to urinate in the layby and when the woman walked past. He claimed the witness was exaggerating or was mistaken in what she claimed she saw.
But a jury rejected that version of events and Silcox, of Maesglas, Pontyates, Llanelli, was found guilty of exposure.
In an impact statement read to the court by prosecution barrister Ashantijade Walton the victim said the encounter had left her feeling traumatised and shaken and scared that the man might follow her. She said she had always previously felt safe in that part of Carmarthen.
The court heard Silcox has a previous conviction for sexual assault while a schoolboy and one for attempted voyeurism when he tried to film an elderly woman who was using a toilet cubicle. As a result of this latter conviction he was subject to the notification requirements of the sex offenders register at the time of the layby incident.
Mark Kelly, for Silcox, said the defendant was an industrious young man who ran his own business as a tree surgeon.
He said there were “many good things” in Silcox’s life but accepted “he has this problem” and he said that with the assistance being offered by the Probation Service there was every prospect he could go on to live a useful and positive life in the community.
Recorder Elwen Evans QC told Silcox he had been convicted of a serious offence, one that had had a significant adverse impact on his victim.
She said: “Some may regard this kind of offence as in some way minor or trivial – it is not. The public are rightly aware of, and concerned about, such offending.”
She said the defendant had a “troubling past” of offending and a “troubling attitude” towards those offences but she said she had to consider what was in the public interest when passing sentence and she was persuaded to the view that the best approach was a community sentence with an intensive sex offenders programme requirement.
Silcox was given a threeyear community order and must complete the Horizon course and 200 hours of unpaid work. He was also ordered to pay £2,000 towards the costs of the prosecution. The defendant will be a registered sex offender for the next five years.