Just heard on the BBC Wales , that Llanelli is to apply for City status , if successful ? It will be the 8th in Wales .

Best policy in many things reesy. 

I heard a mosque will suffice these days..

The church in Alban Road would make a fine cathedral.  A magnificent building.

Well said Sandman!

Like you I am a sospan, born and bred..and proud of it !

Been back living in the town now for 11 years, and even though I am happy with that, being able to walk to and be in my seat at Parc in 25 mins max, or walk to a main line train station in 15 mins, or have asda 5 mins away all great ..there is so much to be ashamed about!

The fact that every year, more shops close in the town centre, making the centre , a ghost town. So much of the cente of of town is now run down, with social deprivation,  really kicking in.

A large number of properties  in town are rented,  some by unscrupulous  landlords, and it shows. Station Rd,and its immediate environment,  has become a Ghetto!

I travel a lot, and Llanelli,  at least the town, has become one of the dirtiest places I have seen.Litter in the streets is shameful, and any visitor  coming here would wonder what type of place is this.

People living here, have got to take some responsibility,  and I am forever picking up litter in and around where I live..its like a disease. 

CITY.., are we having a laugh, maybe should down grade to village.

This was a great town, with a beating heart once !

When we lost industry,  and full employment,  it began to fall apart, 

and Troste pk has not helped matters.

It's all incredibly  sad, and depressing. 

I shop most days in town ,either in asda, the market,  Boots or home bargains. I an grateful  that my bank is still open , when many are closing and there are still some excellent  cafe's in town, which provide great service.

People are always friendly  in Llanelli,  and you can frequently  chat with a stranger....BUT, things could be so much better.

Let's not talk of City and make people laugh at us, but seek ways of improving our once great town.

We will never get back what we had, but it can be certainly be better than it is !

 Llanelli is the largest town in West Wales and the same population as Wrexham. I really don’t know what the benefits would be although I gather City status would allegedly bring in greater inward investment and funding/ grants . I would like to know more to educate myself tbh but I would guess it’s not a strong runner at all. Mind you it would shut up some of the rugby trolls who call us a small town down West in demeaning terms! 

Llanelli and Wrexham have some parallels. Both have a professional sports team outside Cardiff, Swansea and Newport. Both have Yma O Hyd as one of their songs. But I think Wrexham is about 75k compared to our 50k population.

Same here Scarletpimp. Born and bred, but moved to go to uni and never returned for any duration. And you live where I grew up for sure. I could briskly walk to either Stradey Park or Parc Y Scarlets in 25 minutes or 1.5 miles away. 

Unlike Llanelli, Wrexham, like Carmarthen is the county administrative centre for Wrexham County (Unitary Authority).

Llanellis population is way more than 50k depending how it's counted...there was 60,518 registered to vote at the 2019 general election...then add the children and those not registered ...who knows what the figure actually is ?
  Llanellis population is way more than 50k depending how it's counted...there was 60,518 registered to vote at the 2019 general election...then add the children and those not registered ...who knows what the figure actually is 

It's not landlords it's the fact the Welsh govt have made it illegal for landlords to inspect their own properties and evictions have become impossible too ..end result 80% if properties in station road were destroyed by tenants with addiction issues and mental health ..landlords were powerless to save their own properties...even in fire and flood it's illegal for landlords to enter their own properties. Utter madness...some tenants know this and exploit the loopholes by creating drugs dens, Cannabis farms and illegal subletting....such as the huge fire recently destroying superdrug and bright house buildings in town in November...the anti landlord labour agenda is driven purely by envy and jealousy. It is total self defeating. Even the council can't inspect or evict their own bad tenants

There has to be a balance between landlords,  who properly maintain their property,  and respects their tenants,and the unscrupulous  landlords who do not!

Mr Duckling Tuft, as usual,  has polarised  the issue. Not all tenants are drug dealers and lunatics, and its of course shocking for those who abuse situations for their own end, particularly  if it means destruction  of property.

Landlords should have a right to inspect their property,  but should give the tenant a reasonable period of notice,  and cannot expect to walk in.

The situation in Station Rd,  was a complex one, where too many people with  social issues and  mental health , were lumped together, making it a difficult  situation , for the individuals,  the community, and the police.

Local authorities  , since the time of David Cameron, have had their ability to mange social care eroded, thanks to George Osborne 's decision to slash the rate support grant,in the name of austerity.

The council have a dearth of property on their books , compared with the past, and struggle to maintain the  ones they have.

This has put additional  strain on the private sector, and while new legislation  should not put off new landlords,  there needs to be protection  for tenants as well.

As I said in my original contribution to the thread,that a large proportion  of rented property in Llanelli is of a poor quality,and that's the landlords responsibilities. 

I have first hand experience of properties where landlords completely  abdicate their responsibility,  yet expect a hefty rent paid at the end of the month! 

Just around the corner from me, and incredibly,  there was a drugs den , unknown to us all, other than people living in the immediate  vicinity. Those living in this street had been saying for ages, that as long as the landlord  had her money,  she could 'nt give a toss what was going on,  and never checked. Police eventually  broke down the door,  and found a cannabis factory.Neighbours had alerted the landlords previously,  but it was they who had to approach police. 

A few door down, an unscrupulous  local businessman was charging a phillipino family a ridiculous figure for a house, which you could not pay me too live in.

Their next door neighbour told me that last winter , they could not afford to heat the house, so they all ( even children) were wandering around the house in coats. Things got so bad that they had too move out, as they could afford to pay, and are now relying on the generosity of the local phillipino community.

In another incident,  my chiropodist was living in town but was suffering  badly with chest issues, due to her appallingly damp property,  badly neglected by a landlord,  neglecting his responsibilities.  Promises always made, nothing ever done !

She has had to move out and is now payinga slightly higher rent, out of town, but from a responsible  landlord. 

When my grandfather was chief cashier to the Borough of Llanelli,  it was ,in effect, a unitary authority, with its own budget like Carmarthenshire. The council house stock was incredibly high, and as I have allready said ,it's not the case today.

As a result , there has to be a sensible marriage between the public and private sector, and both should work together.

There many empty properties  in Llanelli,  which could be utilised, but the council is trapped for cash, thanks to the  Tories, so we left with a conundrum! 

To conclude, I agree Landlords  Should have access to property,  particularly,  if they are not happy, whether this is private or council.

At the same time,to create a balance, the social crisis in the housing market , again fueled by Tories like Truss, has made it impossible for young working families to afford a morgage,  and consequently  are driven to a private rental sector, which badly needs  standardised licences,  forcing landlords  to maintain their properties  effectively,  and taking their obligations seriously.Any landlord failing to this should be reported to the ombudsman  who should have the clout to remove a landlords licence .

In this way it protects the genuine good landlords and the worthy tenants so everyone is happy.

As a result , I on the side of the good landlord whether it be a council, a housing association, like Gwalia, or the responsible private landlord.

Most of all , I am on the side of the little person, on poor wages, struggling to make ends meet. Not only will game to pay the cost of higher food bills,  increased energy  costs from April, and to top it all higher private rents.

We are not in a good place  unfortunately, which is another nail in the coffin of the regeneration  of our large swathes of our town.

Unfortunately yur examples are only from 1 side of the debate and thus make things worse. The landlord obviusly has a vested inteest in maintaining his/her property to suggest otherwise and paint them as cartoon villains is dangerous biased and disingenuous....Take a look at the tv docu series nightmare tenants/bad landlords...There is no one and nothng supporting landlords at all...All the laws support tenants only...landlords also need 2 licenses a nice cash grab for the welsh govt who fofer zero support to landlords (absolutely zero I know from experience its disgraceful) 

When are tenants accountable ? wheres their licenses? 

Meanwhile as tens of thousands of properties get destroyed by unscrupulous tenants this destroys the whole neighbourhood for their hard working neighbours and makes these homes uninhabitable to future puchasers.

You dont need a catherdral, thats a myth. Brecon has a cathedral but is still a town (for example)

Agree but Llanelli cant be blamed for being ambitious. If Carmarthen dont want it, thats their issue.

swansea on the other hand is over 5 times the size including gower

It makes me sad that the town I grew up in has been reduced to a shell of its former glory.

Station road which is the gateway to the town is a disgrace and has been for years.  Imagine coming off the train for the first time and walking to town centre you would turn back and go back to station.

Too many people with heads in clouds need to get boots on street working to improve and tidy the place up. 

 

Very little in reality, its a status thing and a possible selling point when trying to attract investment. Which almost begs the question, why not do it then?

NONE are as bad as llanelli

It was voted the 2nd worst town centre in the UK 10 years ago...Its number 1 now

Never mind lets all just vote in the same people and Im certain things will improve 

From my personal experience preparing government grant applications etc, this sum does appear exceptionally low.

Same old , same old from the Duckling!

If he produced again balanced rational assessment of things people would listen.

Instead we have a hysterical trade, week on week , about multifarious things. I am actually  begining to feel sorry for the man, and poor Mrs Duckling !

I am no apologist for WAG or the County council,  as they have both made mistakes I have  highlighted in other posts.

It is right however to have both a tenants and landlord  charter, both both have rights in the law.

I did not imply that tenants in Llanelli  were experiencing  Dickinsion poverty, but its clearly insulting to suggest that 

people in this town are not struggling. 

Tory policies over the last 14 have hit Wales hard with aWAG and council budgets slashed.

Social care is in a dire state and who' s fault is that?

I utterly deplore wanton acts of vandalism ,and the destruction of the 

property in Stepney Street was an absolute catastrophe. 

The church in Murray St however was not destroyed  by a drugs gang, 

but by a group of children, with nothing to do...and it's a real shame that a beautiful  building,  part of heritage ,has been destroyed. 

The dismantling of Llanelli , the place I loved , as a boy has many roots causes , highlighted  by various  posters above.

To place the whole blame on WAG or the council is mistake. 

My mother , when she was alive , highlighted that out of town shopping would destroy the community and she was right.

I do blame the council for that.

There are positive things that have happened, in the town such as the opening of the excellent Frwnes theatre 

The building of ParcY Scarlets is another one, a stadium , we should be proud of,the development of the  millennium coastal park is another

Spot on. It’s the older generation who live in the past with a four Yorkshiremen mindset. The millennials generation and those after them don’t give two tosses about quaint shops in town centres. People want retail parks and to do online shopping. Older people are stubborn to progress. People moan about Llanelli but there’s much worse areas. Our neighbours across the bridge their centre is in a worse state. I walk through daily it’s a rundown shadow of its former self. I loved town in the 70s but I don’t mind progress. It’s inevitable. 

I have first hand experience of selling product through the Amazon platform & also buying through it. It is fast, convenient & efficient with the customer always placed firmly at the forefront of the experience. Imaqine a young family with two young children - both work all week - why would they decide to load the children into their car seats in all weathers to go shopping at the weekend when they could spend an hour online while the kids are sleeping, get what they need delivered the next day & when the kids wake enjoy some quality family time walking in the forests & coastal areas which abound. It really is a no brainer. 

Driving on the roads around the town centre are very uninviting, the car parking is terrible, and it's extremely run down.

Trostre/Pemberton Retail Parks are the only places we visit for shopping, and that's only if we really have to......everything else in done online.

It's no different to where I'm currently living here in England, it's actually too much hassle, too stressful, takes too long to actually get into town and park, and then once parked up, the car parking prices for a few hours is absolutely extortionate (yup, you are looking at 6 to 7 quid for a few hours parking) 

Online is definitely the first choice when it comes to shopping in our house. Online has moved on heaps over the past 5 to 10 years. It's much more simple now to buy, try and return if needed compared to before, it's quick and very convenient. You are also saving on parking, petrol, and actually freeing up time to do other things.