Local Elections

I feel a little disappointed at the lack of information available for those of us who have questions we would like answered before we decide how to vote next Thursday.

I live in Wolverhampton and have spent 19 years of my adult life living here.  I am particularly keen to know what the candidates plan to do about (what I consider to be the significant decline of) Wolverhampton City Centre.  There are many empty shops, bars and retail units and some of the larger retail chains have scaled down their outlets and/or the stock they hold.  The whole place has shabby, down on its luck look and feel.  Many people choose not to shop in the Wolverhampton preferring Merry Hill, Telford, Birmingham or Shrewsbury.  Sadly, if visitors come for the weekend I no longer take them into the City Centre to shop or potter around as it tends to be a sad and dispiriting experience.

There seems to be a recognition that something needs to be done but I've not heard or read anything which amounts to a plan, to putting flesh on the bones.  Something creative and innovative needs to be done and soon - in my view!

Wolverhampton does have some wonderful features.  It's main asset is the people who live here who, generally speaking, are friendly, welcoming, hard working and have a warm humour. It is a city of great diversity on many levels which gives it depths of richness in terms of culture, food, sporting tradition and in the past manufacturing but you have to do more than scratch the surface nowadays to find those things. 

The jewels in the crown include: Wolverhampton Art Gallery which is a wonderful place exhibiting a wide range of art and with an excellent tea shop; the Lighthouse Media Centre which shows excellent films in a welcoming environment where you can drink wine out of a glass or hot chocolate in a mug while watching the film (no popcorn in sight!); West Park is a wonderful example of a Victorian Park which is beautifully maintained; Wolverhampton Grand Theatre is an impressive venue; and there are also some brilliant independent traders (of varying sizes) and restaurants who provide an excellent service and good quality products while building relationships with customers.   

So local politicians and election candidates, what are you going to do about this sad decline?  Who is going to think outside the box and come up with something original that will breath life into the City?  Who has got the dynamism to encourage business, retail, leisure and entertainment entrepreneurs to invest and do their stuff here so that people can regain a sense of pride and of future in Wolverhampton?