City continues to benefit from Administration policies

More good news over the last two days with further investment in the City from top-notch retailers.

Yesterday, the La Senza lingerie chain announced that it is to give the city centre a big vote of confidence by announcing it is setting up shop here. Today, Laura Ashley said it is to open a home furnishings store in the Pontarddulais Retail Park.

Naturally, it would have been preferable if Laura Ashley had decided to set up in the City Centre, but there is no escaping the fact that things are looking better than for some time for Swansea.

As the Chairman of the Swansea Business Improvement District, Peter Birch, said:

"It's brilliant news.

"Every week there's somebody announcing they are coming to Swansea."Companies are seeing investment is being poured into Swansea.

"We have a Business Improvement District here which is a first in Wales.

"People can recognise that it's the place they want to be."

He said companies which had pulled out of the city centre could live to regret their decision.

"They might find the error of their ways and realise Swansea is a much sought-after place to come."

What a contrast with the barren years of Labour control.

Labour flushed away

The only thing going down the pan around here is the Labour Party's spinning around Swansea website. All the evidence is that not only are they listening at the wrong doors but they are having difficulties reading.

When they claim that this Evening Post article on the state of the City's toilets shows that the Administration are not getting the basics right, they overlooked one small fact. Council-operated toilets were not looked at as part of the Halo Wipes' investigation.

In fact Swansea Council has award winning public toilet provision including the 2006 Loo of the Year Awards for Caer Street, Oystermouth, Quadrant, and Rhossili. Of course that inconvenient fact does not stop Labour who use every excuse to rub down Swansea now that they no longer run it.

Labour election circus full of clowns

The Labour election circus came to Swansea yesterday leading the First Minister to try to claim sole credit for all the investment coming into the City at the moment.

Labour have form on this of course. When things go wrong then local Councils are the easy scapegoats. When Labour election pledges such as those on school buildings do not materialise then it is everybody's fault but theirs. They are a good news government, only interested in associating themselves with success and failing to take responsibility for their failures.

I am not going to deny that the Welsh Assembly Government has played its part in helping Swansea get back on its feet, but we do need to note that it was the failures of a Labour Council that got us there in the first place. Rhodri Morgan's Government and his Transport Minister have also failed to provide the investment that Swansea needs to build on our success. In particular they have consistently failed to give us a proper share of Transport Grant, delaying unreasonably the re-building of the bus station.

So when Rhodri Morgan says that the City's success is built on his government's investment he is only telling half the story. The Swansea Administration has played a large part in that success too, creating an atmosphere in which investors want to come back here once more. The Administration's decision to re-open the Leisure Centre, the can-do attitude in the City Centre and the new confidence we are creating in the City have all played a part.

It is not a Labour-run Assembly that is helping to transform the fortunes of the city, it is a partnership being led by the Council, putting right Labour's mess. If anything the Assembly Government is holding us back.

More good news for City Centre

Yet more good news in tonight's Evening Post underlining our previous post about the Administration's success in turning the City Centre around.

Lush, which specialises in hand-made soaps and cosmetics, is set to open a store in Whitewalls, opposite the popular Primark store, in what was once a nail bar.

It is not just us who believe that the turning point has been passed. Peter Birch, the vice-chairman and secretary of the Swansea Business Improvement District and chairman of the Swansea Independent Traders Association, said: "Confidence is building in the city. It is a great feeling knowing that companies want to come here. Not too long ago companies were leaving the city centre. It's great that things are changing."The city centre will certainly have more to offer than the out-of- town parks."

Whilst Denise Road, chairwoman of JT Morgan, said the latest news of fresh investment from a major national chain showed the city was on the up.

What a contrast with the mess that Labour made of the city centre.

Wrong again!

The Spinning Around Swansea Labour website demonstrate their usual lack of insight on the workings of the Council's Liberal Democrat Group. They really must stop listening at the wrong doors.

Administration is making a difference

I know how upset the Spinning Around Swansea lot get when we neglect this blogsite but unfortunately for them we decide when we post and when we do not.

Nevertheless it is worth breaking our unscheduled vacation to report on further investment in the City Centre that vindicates once more the strategy being pursued by the Swansea Administration and underlines the growing confidence in the City by investors.

The investment by Marks and Spencer in its City Centre store is one manifestation of this. As the Post says the planned multi-million pound transformation is being seen as a huge vote of confidence in the city centre as a retail hotspot. And then on top of this news we read that around 250 developers have contacted the Council to express and interest in working on bringing the City Centre strategy to reality. These are real developers not the fictional ones Labour told us wanted to rebuild our Leisure Centre but nobody could find any evidence of.

Peter Birch, vice-chairman and secretary of the Swansea Business Improvement District and chairman of the Swansea Independent Traders Association sums up where we are as a City:

"More is happening in Swansea now than has ever happened in my time here since 1980. There is more money being invested here than in a lot of towns and cities in Britain.

"The city stagnated for so long, but now people are concentrating on the centre again. There was a time when developers were looking at out-of-town areas, but that has stopped and they now want to be involved with the centre and to see that thriving again.

"This council has made a brave decision to get the leisure centre reopened and it is reaping the rewards from that and its vision for Swansea. I am really pleased for the city and the traders who have hung on in here through the hard times. Things are really looking up now and I am happy to be part of that."