Miracle a must to save centre (From South Wales Argus)

Miracle a must to save centre

3:27pm Tuesday 19th March 2013 in Letters

COUNCILLOR Bob Bright correctly states that the council does not have a magic wand to solve Newport’s city centre problem.

With respect, he is missing the point. It would take a full conclave of cardinals, the entire wizarding academy of Hogwarts and a miraculous intervention of celestial proportions to tackle the job, with no guarantee of success. All hope rests, it seems, on the much-heralded manifestation of the Friars Walk and John Frost Square developments, let alone the ever-elusive, increasingly evasive Debenhams. I seem to recall similar hopes being placed, indeed loudly trumpeted, in the Ryder Cup and we all know how that turned out. AM Rosemary Butler trills that she is “...confident that businesses will return to the city centre”, but I wonder how many Newportonians share her rosy glow of our future. There isn’t much rose-tinted about the dark doorways and empty shop windows that comprise almost a quarter of the town’s commercial centre. Should have gone to SpecSavers.

Julian R. Powell Larch Grove Newport