Bangor City Council has been successful in obtaining a grant from the Welsh Government called Transforming Towns capital funding.
The City Council, supported by Bangor First, have used this funding for the Transforming Bangor project and to improve the High Street from the Cathedral through to Dean Street.
This part of the High Street has been in decline for many years and is suffering due to a lack of investment, a lack of footfall and empty shops.
The challenges faced in Bangor are no different to those seen elsewhere - big names such as Debenhams, Top Shop and H&M have all left the High Street. The area has started to show signs of disrepair which is in turn detracting investment by businesses. The City Council hopes that the investment from the grant funding will help attract more investment from businesses. We hope that visitor numbers to the City Centre will also improve.
We will be using this funding to undertake a series of small-scale interventions on the High Street including shop repairs, vinyl coverings and public realm improvements.
The City Council see this work as the first phase of a longer transformation of the High Street. It is acknowledged that fundamental change is required to evolve the High Street to cater for the changing spending habits of modern society and this will take time.
To begin that journey this project aims to understand . . .
1. Vinyls to empty shop frontages
To help brighten up and improve the image of the High Street vinyl images on empty shop frontages have been provided.
2. Guttering
The guttering of all buildings along the High Street from Dean Street to the Cathedral have been cleared. Undergrowth has been removed ensuring that the gutters are working correctly and directing the water to the appropriate drains.
3. Deep Street Cleaning
You may have noticed Cyngor Gwynedd Ardal Ni team have been working hard to deep clean the paving. The area which has been deep cleaned is from Dean Street to the Cathedral.
Bangor City Council hopes that this will enhance the look of the High Street for the public and visitors to the area.
4. Public Realm
The public realm is also to have a facelift with new planters, new street furniture and new bike racks. This will also be accompanied by a comprehensive planting scheme to enhance the area. There will be a series of hanging baskets and barrier planters on fences and lampposts to bring some much-needed colour into the space. Additional planting will also be added to some existing planters. Some of the old planters will be moved to other areas of the city.
The City Council would like to encourage sustainable travel within the city. As part of this project we are investing in 4 bike charging stations. 2 will be located next to Café Hafan in Tan y Fynwent park and 2 will be located down by the pier. In addition to these, we are installing 2 electric vehicle charging points at the pier.
5. Future High Street improvement works
We are working in partnership with the shopkeepers, the Business Improvement District, Cyngor Gwynedd and other stakeholders to make sure we are targeting the right interventions.
It is hoped that further funding and investment will be sought to continue to improve the city centre and bring about a fundamental shift in fortune to the area.
The public realm has quickly been taking shape over the past few weeks. New hanging baskets, benches and lamppost planters have all been placed along the High Street.
Works of painting of planters to blue and painting of lamp posts has been also undertaken over the past few weeks.
