Brownfield land and empty shops could hold key to council’s regeneration plans

Brownfield sites and empty shops will be targeted in a new strategy for attracting businesses to Caerphilly County Borough.

Councillors have backed a new ten-year economic regeneration plan designed to bring investment to the area, get more people into work, and revive town centres.

Cllr Jamie Pritchard, the cabinet member for regeneration, said the strategy marked the start of a “longer-term approach” to redevelopment and new opportunities.

Senior officer Paul Hudson said the council would seek to “move on” several previously developed sites as key locations for new businesses.

Firms are “interested” in setting up in Oakdale, where swathes of land have been designated for industrial redevelopment, but this will rely on the council completing improvements to an access road, Mr Hudson told councillors.

Cllr Nigel Dix urged more focus on attracting STEM businesses (science, technology, engineering and mathematics), which he said “make the world go round”.

Richard Edmunds, the local authority’s chief executive, said STEM is “very prominent” in the borough’s secondary schools, adding the council is “doing everything we can” to promote the sector.

The new strategy will also secure placemaking plans for Bargoed and Blackwood, which set out how public spaces in the towns can be improved or renovated to usher in prosperity.

It also proposes “working with” owners of empty high-street units “to explore temporary and flexible arrangements” for their reuse.

Cllr Colin Mann said there are “so many empty shops” in the borough’s town centres, which he blamed partly on the growth of online shopping.

“What are we going to do with these empty shops?” he asked.

Allan Dallimore, another senior officer, said the council “can’t depend solely on retail” to revive high streets, and explained the placemaking plans for Bargoed and Blackwood are “about diversification”.

These could include a broader mix of services, homes and “meanwhile” uses – which involve businesses moving into premises on a temporary or pop-up basis.

Cllr Christine Bissex-Foster warned that it could be hard for new “meanwhile” businesses to prosper if town centres were “dead”, however.

The council will need to engage with communities to get things right, Cllr Steve Skivens added.

Cllr Pritchard said “extensive” consultation work had been carried out for the Caerphilly Town 2035 placemaking plan, and added the council would “want to see widespread consultation” on future projects – including the plans for Bargoed and Blackwood.

“We recognise we need to deliver for the whole of the borough,” he added.