Row escalates between Reform UK and Tories over town hall and car park plans

Richard Evans, local democracy reporter

The Welsh Conservatives and Reform UK are locked in a bitter row over plans for the future of the town hall and a car park in a popular seaside town.

The Conservatives  have now started an online petition to “Llandudno’s Market Street car park prompting criticism from Reform’s leader and assurances that it is “safe”.

The row follows Reform defending the plans this week.

The Welsh Conservatives claimed: “Local residents recently discovered that Reform UK councillors have been working on a plan to sell Market Street car park (behind Llandudno Town Hall) as well as the Town Hall itself to an organisation linked to Mostyn Estates for £1, or even pay the Mostyn Estates-linked organisation to take it off Conwy County Borough Council’s hands. “

“The car park generates £200,000 per year, which supports important local services, such as bin collections, road gritting, and highway maintenance.

“We recently found out that the council have no plans to deal with this potential lost revenue, which will only lead to even higher council tax increases and more cuts to local services.”

But Reform’s leader Cllr Louise Emery, a former Conservative councillor, denied there was an issue and said the council assets were safe.

“The car park is not at risk. I work hard on the ground every day to ensure that our services here in Llandudno are kept open and have a long-term secure future,” she said.

“The Welsh Conservatives, who are pushing this data-collection petition, are trying to pull the wool over the eyes of residents to try and get another four years of taxpayer funded salaries in Cardiff Bay that these Tories would never get in the private sector.”

She added: “In May, our residents will choose local delivery with Reform over the Tories, who will say absolutely anything if it means they can get back on the gravy train.”

At odds

The Conservatives and Reform have been at odds over the matter since Tory councillor Harry Saville raised the issue in a council meeting, claiming Conwy Reform leader Cllr Louise Emery was in talks behind closed doors.

But Cllr Emery says her idea was to place the building in the hands of the community interest company so it could be maintained and renovated, working with Mostyn Estates, who own the freehold of the town hall.

Cllr Emery said the plans were at an early stage, hence them not being discussed publicly, and suggested one avenue of funding for the town hall could be the Market Street car park, which the council operates on a long lease from Mostyn Estates.

But Cllr Saville took issue with this, accusing Cllr Emery, a former Conservative councillor, of attempting to hand over the building and the car park, a £200,000-a-year asset, to one of the “wealthiest landowners in the UK”.

Cllr Emery, though, believed the council wouldn’t be out of pocket, due to the money saved on the town hall’s maintenance costs.

‘Considered’

Conwy County Council has now said that the matter “would be considered in accordance with the council’s disposal policy” should a proposal be formally put forward.

Aberconwy’s Conservative MS Janet Finch-Saunders claimed the public were concerned.

“I’ve had so many enquiries and approaches, and of course, I haven’t been silent on social media because I am deeply concerned. I’m very upset and disappointed,” she said.

“As a politician covering Llandudno for some 30 years, I am appalled that meetings have been going on, allegedly, behind the scenes, to hand over our beautiful, historic, much valued Town Hall.

“Furthermore, to find out that a Reform politician, allegedly, has been promoting and supporting this move and behind closed doors, it is deeply frustrating that this is the case.

“There has been a lot of interest in the petition. But there have also been a lot of approaches to my office, phone calls to my office, indeed, by somebody now claiming that it is going ahead.

“I’ve been approached by somebody. I won’t mention names. But I’ve been told quite categorically that this is happening. It is deeply worrying. It is someone who maintains they will be very involved as one of the drivers.”

Petitions

She added: “I’m a great fan of petitions and involving the community when anything controversial arises. A petition is the best way of doing that. And these days the online ones are great for a better connection, and depending on the number of responses, the petition will dictate to me whether I need to call a public meeting on this.”

The MS then claimed she had to delete offensive messages she’d received on Facebook in connection with the issue.