Taking place from 19 to 25 September, the week will give people across Bangor the chance to share their ideas for the city and help shape the work already underway to bring new investment and opportunities into the area. Claire explains more below.
I’m holding a whole week of conversations across Bangor, and I’d love you to join me.
Over the past two years since becoming your MP, I’ve been talking to residents and businesses across Bangor. I’ve heard all about the challenges and the problems, and lots of ideas about what needs to change.
Alongside some brilliant people in Bangor, I’m already working on plans to help bring empty buildings back into use and attract investment, and I’m still fighting to get an indoor food and drink market off the ground.
There’s fantastic work already happening from the ground up too. Bangor Summer Festival, Bangor Ska & Soul and others are showing what can happen when we give people a reason to come into the city and create some real buzz.
This week is the next step, building the evidence we need to make things happen in our city.
We’ll use the information gathered over the week to strengthen funding bids, go after public and private investment, and feed directly into the new regeneration body I’m working to get up and running this autumn.
And the timing matters, too.
A massive package of works for Wylfa has just been announced, with local businesses already being asked to register their interest. Over the coming years, the new nuclear project at Wylfa will bring thousands of good jobs and significant investment into North Wales.
That creates a really exciting opportunity to bring new businesses and investment into our area – and to make sure Bangor benefits from the growth happening around us.
This is a massive opportunity for Bangor – if we go out and grab it!
But it’s now more than five years since Cyngor Gwynedd and Bangor City Council published the Bangor masterplan, and too little has happened since.
The furore over the Storiel project shows what happens when decisions are made without properly involving the people who live and work here. We’ve been hearing about a new medical centre for years, yet there’s still been no meaningful progress.
People are frustrated, and with good reason.
As I’ve always said, I’m not prepared to sit back and wait for something to happen.
So I’m spending a week out across the city talking to you. Not starting from scratch, but testing and building on what you’ve already told me.
What would bring you into Bangor more often? What should fill our empty buildings? What would you actually use and support? What events and activities would bring people into the city? And what would make the biggest difference now?
Come and have your say
I’ll be at locations across Bangor throughout the week. There’s no need to book – just come along, grab a coffee and have a chat.
Saturday 19 September
11am–1pm – Antoniazzi’s / Penguin Café
260 Stryd Fawr, Bangor, LL57 1RS
https://fb.me/e/4DK5hfq58
Monday 21 September
9.30am–11.30am – Westend Checkpoint (Academi)
39 Farrar Road, Bangor, LL57 1LJ
https://fb.me/e/4JnwqINrG
12pm–2pm – Morrisons Upper Bangor
Holyhead Road, Bangor, LL57 2ED
https://fb.me/e/8PDK1n01Q
5.30pm–7.30pm – Crossville Club
Glandwr Road, Bangor, LL57 1AD
https://fb.me/e/4QNRe74ww
Tuesday 22 September
10am–12pm – Cafe Kyffin
129 Stryd Fawr, Bangor, LL57 1NT
https://fb.me/e/7xpA9raIH
12.30pm–2.30pm – Coleg Menai Café/Campus
Ffordd Ffriddoedd, Bangor, LL57 2TP
https://fb.me/e/6y0a0hV3X
Wednesday 23 September
11am–1pm – Pontio
Deiniol Road, Bangor, LL57 2TQ
https://fb.me/e/9LnKdiqW3
2pm–4pm – Clio Lounge
276 Stryd Fawr, Bangor, LL57 1UL
https://fb.me/e/6irPmXdKN
Friday 25 September
9am–11am – Caffi Cysur
147–149 Stryd Fawr, Bangor, LL57 1NT
https://fb.me/e/7i5mZEWwL
I’ll share the results with the council’s regeneration team and invite the Plaid Cymru Welsh Government’s new high streets taskforce to come and hear directly from residents in Bangor too.
As I’ve said before, we already know the structural challenges facing Bangor – rates, footfall, parking and planning.
This week isn’t about going over problems we already know exist.
It’s about turning ideas into action, building the case for investment, backing the things that are already working and getting on with making things happen.
Not a consultation. A conversation.
The coffee’s on me.
Come and join in.
For Bangor.
For us.
Promoted by Claire Hughes at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. This website is paid for independently by Claire Hughes MP, no public funds have been used in the production of this website.
