Town Centre Puzzle!

Morley - a thriving Town Centre

I received a phone call from Channel 4 news this week to discuss Morley Town Centre and the economic upturn. The Director wanted to get some insight into how Morley was doing during these difficult times. I was delighted to give a full report on how well Morley Town Centre is doing in relation to other local towns such as Dewsbury and Batley. I also confirmed that we are expecting new investment such as Wetherspoons and the regeneration of the Pavilion at the end of Queen Street.

The Directors aims were not clear and I spouted on about how we had worked on regenerating Morley Bottoms and how we have the fewest number of empty shops for a decade! I'm not sure if he was disappointed with my reply but he did agree with me that unemployment was lower in Morley than in other surrounding areas.

I waxed eloquently on our partnership with the White Rose and the additional 1000 jobs coming the way of local residents.

I guess it was not what he was looking for but even he had to admit that Morley did not seem to be a Town Centre that was failing. I suspect that as Morley is in the Shadow Chancellors constituency he was wanting someone to portray doom and gloom. He clearly didn't get that from me and that's probably why he rang off rather quickly having thanked me for my background information.

It is important we do all we can to keep Morley Town Centre thriving and I believe we must be doing something right if a multi million pound investment by Wetherspoons and the Pavilion Developer is anything to go by. They clearly see a successful Town Centre worth investing in.