CENTRAL Beds Councillor Nigel Young told a BBC radio programme how “frustrated” he is by the current state of Dunstable’s Quadrant Shopping Centre.
The executive member for regeneration was speaking on the BBC Radio 4 programme ‘Today’ when he made the comments on Tuesday, July 3.
He said: “I drove by the Quadrant Centre 25 years ago when I came to Dunstable. And guess what - it looked exactly the same then as it does now, apart from the fact that it has fewer shops”
Last month, jeweller H Samuel pulled down its shutters for the last time as the latest shop to leave the area, and around a third of the plot stand vacant.
Mr Young added: “It’s awful. A large part of it needs to be knocked down and it’s crying out for investment. It’s incredibly frustrating.
“We’ve put together a £13m package to rebuild and revitalise this area. And we’re caught in the crossfire, and it’s allowing our town to collapse.”
Mr Young says that the council are trying to secure a deal with Glanmore Property Fund who own the Quadrant, but that every offer has so far been rejected.
He said: “We have the money. I think you can see how frustrated we are. We just need people to start listening to us.”