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£60 million plan looks good and is very much needed.

The council should have done this before building the grand arcade.

Yes, it is a good plan but they don't encourage people to visit the town with the lack of & free parking like example the Trafford centre, middlebrook & Gemini shopping parks

cpwigan wrote:£60 million plan looks good and is very much needed.

Another White Elephant imo the reason the Galleries failed was because the rents were so high.There is nothing more morbid than walking through a ghost arcade.

josie andrews wrote:The council should have done this before building the grand arcade.

Yes, it is a good plan but they don't encourage people to visit the town with the lack of & free parking like example the Trafford centre, middlebrook & Gemini shopping parks

Sounds like a good idea Josie but would the council just up the rent on the shops to compensate for lack of parking revenue and we as customers of the shops would then pay the money anyway through increased prices?

platt-warrior wrote:

cpwigan wrote:£60 million plan looks good and is very much needed.

Another White Elephant imo the reason the Galleries failed was because the rents were so high.There is nothing more morbid than walking through a ghost arcade.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Marketgate in particular is like walking in a James Herbert novel!

josie andrews wrote:The council should have done this before building the grand arcade.

Yes, it is a good plan but they don't encourage people to visit the town with the lack of & free parking like example the Trafford centre, middlebrook & Gemini shopping parks

Spot on Josie. Architecturally, the Galleries has won all sorts of awards, for encompassing the Market Square and having a brick fascia rather than the soulless stock standard concrete with glass.

The accountants at the council just can't get it into their heads that free or very low cost parking is essential nowadays.

Kittwazzer wrote:

platt-warrior wrote:

cpwigan wrote:£60 million plan looks good and is very much needed.

Another White Elephant imo the reason the Galleries failed was because the rents were so high.There is nothing more morbid than walking through a ghost arcade.

Couldn't have put it better myself. Marketgate in particular is like walking in a James Herbert novel!

Which is surely why we need this redevelopment. It strikes me that it is correcting so many of the wrongs from the original design. It wasn't just rents. Good luck to the developers I say because I totally agree The Galleries today is very depressing.

Whatever they are going to do they had better do it quickly..preferably yesterday because Wigan is fast becoming a joke...no use bringing European Markets etc...it just takes money off our own town.HURRY UP AND DO SOMETHING!!

The Galleries was the wrong design out of the four submitted at the time and not the one chosen by the people of Wigan who were allow to vote for what they considered the best. The decision being vetoed by the then leadership of the Council who for their own reasons chose the Galleries instead. Many of this leadership being no longer around to see their mistake.

The Galleries is too cold with much of the space outside with small units, not enough space for attracting larger high street stores and its demise has nothing to do with rents.

And the Grand Arcade is not a white elephant as some seem to think as it always packed with shoppers because it is warm, has plenty of space and the capacity for bigger stores.

In my opinion the new plans will make the town centre better both for shopping and leisure and I look forward to the re- development taking place.

jobo wrote:

josie andrews wrote:
The accountants at the council just can't get it into their heads that free or very low cost parking is essential nowadays.

Correct. Town centre parking is both inconvenient and expensive. Can't remember the last time I went there to buy anything. Everything I need seems to be available between Robin Park and Asda where parking is free and plentiful!