Town Centre rent relief package extended

Retailers occupying council-owned shopping units in Llanelli Town Centre will continue to benefit from a relief package which slashes their rent by a quarter.

Carmarthenshire County Council’s Executive Board Member for Resources, Cllr Jeff Edmunds, has agreed to extend the rent concession for two years for those tenants who already benefit, implemented subject to call-in procedures.

Following the completion of a £60million regeneration programme, the extension confirms the council’s commitment to supporting Llanelli Town Centre traders and increasing footfall through the town and provides another welcome boost in what continue to be difficult trading conditions.

Cllr Edmunds said: “I am pleased to extend the 25 per cent rent reduction for our retail tenants in Llanelli Town Centre. We recognise and appreciate that the recession is still having an impact on traders, and it is clear that they would struggle to meet their rents if the concession was removed.

“We have invested heavily in the town centre, with new cultural developments at the Eastern Quarter and Llanelly House helping to drive new people in to the town centre, so it is important that we continue to support traders.”

Since June 2010, when the rent concession was first introduced, the level of empty shops in Llanelli’s market hall and precincts have decreased, with only the most difficult to let remaining vacant.

The rent concession has been welcomed by Andrew Stevens, President of the town’s Chamber of Trade and Commerce.

“Any help from the council is to be welcomed,” he said. “Traders in Llanelli’s town centre have been struggling for years against the effects of the recession, downturn in the economy, competing against out of town retail parks and a long period of regeneration of the town centre.”