MP’s plea to ease Newtown ‘suffering’

Montgomeryshire MP Glyn Davies (left) has called for urgent action from the Welsh Assembly to bring some hope back to Newtown and its surrounding area.

 

Friday’s closure of ShopDirect was the end of an era for the town which invented mail order in the 19th Century and also left 180 more Newtownians without work.

 

It is the latest in a lengthening list of gloomy economic news for a town which has been blighted by traffic congestion following Assembly tinkering to its traffic flow last year.

 

The town’s civic leaders have had enough, thousands of townsfolk have signed a petition for a traffic resolution and now the MP has made an impassioned plea for action for the good of the region.

 

He said: “The closure highlights that Mid Wales needs more attention from the Assembly Government.  Newtown, and all of Central Wales, West of Newtown is suffering economically from the horrendous traffic problems caused by the traffic lights system in the town.  Newtown needs an early start on building the Newtown Bypass to bring hope and confidence to the region. I hope the loss of 180 jobs will bring home to the Assembly Government the urgency and importance of delivering the new bypass.

 

“The loss of 180 jobs is a huge blow to a town the size of Newtown. Unfortunately, consumer shopping habits have changed dramatically in the direction of online shopping, which inevitably has an impact on businesses involved in mail order. Great efforts have been made by the unions, the Assembly Government, and Newtown's Mayor over the last year but sadly, no buyer has been found."

 

"The loss of a mail order business from this location is a particular sadness because of its link with one of the greatest 'sons of Newtown', Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones. He was a local draper, who developed his business into a worldwide phenomenon through being the first to use mail order on a large scale. Newtown supplied the great ladies of the world, including Queen Victoria and Lily Langtree with their clothes. There has been a mail order business operating from the purpose-built Royal Welsh Warehouse (PJ's) since it was opened in 1879."