City centre ‘starting to turn the corner’ after crackdown on bad behaviour

Nicholas Thomas Local Democracy Reporter

The centre of Newport is “starting to turn the corner” and become a safer, more attractive place, according to its city council leader.

Six months since taking the top job, Dimitri Batrouni said the council has increased measures to deter troublemakers, cleaned up the streets, and expanded a “hugely successful” events programme – all aimed at welcoming more shoppers and visitors.

That events calendar – including the new Winter Wonderland, which opened this week – is central to the council’s plans for a more diverse city centre, giving people activities and opportunities “you can’t do on your couch”, he added.

Following a placemaking consultation event in John Frost Square last weekend, the council is preparing to unveil a suite of 60 “big ideas” to the wider public in the new year, which will decide “how the city centre may be shaped over the next 10 years or so”.

Yet Cllr Batrouni and other senior figures leading the city centre’s regeneration admitted a huge part of their challenge is contending with enduring claims – sometimes erroneously shared on social media – that the area is unsafe or not worth visiting.

Changing minds

James Clarke, appointed cabinet member for regeneration in the summer, said changing those minds is “one of the hardest things”.

“We’ve been coming up against a perception that ‘nothing happens in the city centre’ – well, that’s just not true,” he said.

Tracey Brook, the council’s head of regeneration, said recent footfall figures were up 6% for the city centre but down 4% nationally.

“Newport’s bucking the trend there,” she said, adding that visitors to the food festival last month represented “the third-highest footfall count in the city centre since January 2022”.

The council said visitor numbers for the recent Countdown to Christmas lights switch-on event were up by 2,000 compared to last year – perhaps boosted by a short-term free parking scheme on Saturdays.

For Cllr Batrouni, as well as supporting Newport’s independent retailers, bringing more events and activities to the city centre is key to its future health.

“This old version of the city centre, which I think a lot of people are still wedded to, is that big British Home Store-type [shop],” he said. “The big huge Debenhams chains. But that business model’s failing all across the country. That’s not just a Newport problem, and that’s because the likes of Amazon and online shopping have just taken that trend away.

“We have to think of a different solution. People want those big places back but they’re not coming back, because people don’t go in them anymore. So events are the way to go – give people experiences they can’t experience at home.”

Warning

Ms Brook warned the council “can’t do everything on our own” and said partnerships would be key to giving residents and visitors an even greater choice – the Christmas lights event was led by the Newport Now BID (business improvement district), with the council playing a supporting role.

Cllr Clarke added there were plans for more events “for most months of 2025” but remained tight-lipped on their details.

Even with the positive visitor numbers, and progress on projects such as the new leisure centre and college campus in Usk Way, Cllr Batrouni and Cllr Clarke admitted it was difficult to win over critics of other aspects of the city centre.

They both accepted there was “some truth” to reports circulating online and in the community of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and other issues, despite crime levels being down.

But some of the more egregious claims online appear to have actually happened in other cities, they added.

“I don’t think we’re naive enough to think it’s absolutely perfect, because obviously it’s not and no city centre is,” said Cllr Clarke.

To contend with those issues, the council has expanded a “dedicated” ASB team to patrol hotspots and tackle troublemakers.

It has also strengthened its PSPO (public spaces protection order), giving officers powers to move on or fine offenders, and seize illegal e-scooters.

More signs explaining the PSPO should be appearing around the city centre in the near future.

“The key is to be consistent,” Cllr Batrouni said. “I think in the past there was a temptation to surge then stop. But if the characters [involved] realise we’re not going to stop, we’re always going to patrol, this is never going to change, they don’t come back.”