PENRHYN ROAD PROJECT

Yesterday, Monday, I attended the consultation in regards to the Penrhyn Road refurbishment, I have no objections to it in theory but I do have a couple of points and questions to the Council’s reasoning behind the project, for example they say it will increase business to the area, I don’t think it will, why should it?, that Road is mainly banking institutions and even the Council cannot dictate which bank we use. The same applies to their claim that it will increase footfall to the area, as I have said, this is a banking area and regardless of how it looks people will still use the bank. The strangest claim of all is that it will increase tourism to North Wales, really? how?. I cannot see how one “done-up street” will improve tourism, especially when the Council and Councillors suggest that tourism is not the future for Colwyn Bay. Cynical, maybe, but would it not have been easier to tell the truth... it looks tired and dated and needs refurbishing, simple as that.
My other concerns are; they are using the same imported Chinese granite that was used on Station Road, I know it’s a lot cheaper but cheaper is not always better; looking at Station Road now we can see this cheap import has started to stain and already looks grubby. Locally sourced material may be more expensive initially but the financial benefits are not solely in the material itself, local quarries would have to keep employing their workforce, hauliers would do the same and the finished product would not only look better it would instil a sense of local pride, these factors should be considered before costing.
Talking of “costing”, I do not know the overall costs of this project but I would like to know if it is coming out of the tax-payers pocket, and, if so, why?. Why spent Council money when this project could easily form part of the Regeneration Scheme, ie; be paid for out of our Regeneration Grant instead of Council coffers and, ultimately, our pockets. If it was done through the Grant why not go the full-hog and continue the existing covered walkways all the way down, part of my original suggestion along with cast-iron lampposts and bollards. It just seems a shame that whenever the Council do a job they go into it half-hearted and instead of doing a full project they only do half of it, perhaps they should take on board the old saying “If a jobs worth doing, its worth doing it right”.