New figures showing a fifth of shops in some of North Wales biggest town centres are empty is a concern.

That’s the view of West Cheshire and North Wales Chamber of Commerce following publication of statistics by the Local Data Company in the Daily Post earlier this week.

Whilst all the North Wales centres were above the United Kingdom average vacancy rate of 14.3%, they were much higher than Cwmbran (6%) and Abergavenny (7.9%) respectively:

· Rhyl: 20.3%

· Caernarfon 19.7%

· Colwyn Bay 19.5%

· Wrexham 16%

· Llandudno 15.7%.

The Local Data Company says 2012 is likely to get worse for high streets, citing factors like weak consumer confidence and the continued growth of supermarket and internet shopping.

Richard Thomas, Chamber vice chair for North Wales said: “These new figures are a concern, but unfortunately not surprising or unexpected. Consumer habits are changing at a rapid rate and these results highlight the need for the retail sector within the town centres to work together in a coordinated manner, to work with representative organisations and with councils to find ways to stem this growing tide.

“Despite the gloomy outlook, there are examples of good work going on in terms of business groups working together to find solutions, as well as the development of practical qualifications at our regional colleges to help people develop their skills. Based on these results, it would also seem prudent to use towns like Cwmbran and Abergavenny as examples of good practice to see what those locations that are not performing quite as well can learn from them.”

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