Closing Blaenau Gwent council HQ has unknown cost to Ebbw Vale economy as footfall data sensors failed for years

NOTE to EDITORS – This is from a meeting on July 12 which has been written up today following the high number of recent meetings across both Blaenau Gwent and Powys and the need to prioritise some stories before others. 
THE cost to the Ebbw Vale economy of closing the Blaenau Gwent council headquarters will never be fully known.
This is because the sensors that measured town centre footfall did not work properly for several years.
The revelation was made at a meeting of the Governance and Audit committee earlier this month.
In June, the committee had looked at a retrospective integrated impact assessment of the process to close the Civic Centre and move to the hubs model.
This follows criticism from Audit Wales in their “Springing Forward” report published earlier this year.
The committee were “assured” that the impact assessment had been completed in line with legislation.
Chairwoman and lay member, Joanne Absolom asked for more information on how closing the building had impacted on Ebbw Vale businesses.
Since the Civic Centre was built in 1964, generations of workers would have walked into town to buy food and other items from shops in Ebbw Vale.
Business and regeneration service manager, Owen Ashton said: “We’ve had issues with footfall data for Ebbw Vale.
“The council had previously commissioned a company to monitor footfall within the town – but throughout that time there was challenges with the accuracy of the data and how the machinery was powered.
“We had to commission a new company to provide that data which is powered from lighting columns un the town centre.”
Mr Ashton explained that the coverage had been “sporadic” and from March 2016 onwards, “very little data” was received.
Mr Ashton said: “We’ve actually commissioned new footfall counters which have been in place from March 2021.”
He explained that the figures since then were “considerably lower” than the last accurate figures from March 2016 and before.
Mr Ashton said: “It is unfortunate with Ebbw Vale that we have a gap from March 2016 to March 2021.
“I don’t think it would be a useful exercise to compare them.”
Due to questions from councillors on footfall data, not only in Ebbw Vale but the other county borough towns, Mr Ashton suggested if it would be a good idea to hold a “member briefing” to explain the data gathering process.
Cllr Wayne Hodgins said it would be “ideal” to have a “wider” members briefing for the topic.
It was agreed by the committee that one would be organised.
At a full council meeting on July 20 councillors also approved the impact assessment. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​