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An Introduction to Wrexham:
Wrexham’s rich and diverse history has influenced and shaped the place it is today. Wrexham is located closely to the English border in North Wales which, over the years, has impacted on the heritage, nationhood and the sense of national identity felt throughout Wrexham Borough Council. It is imperative the sustainability of Wrexham Borough Council is understood in order for positive future progression.

Wrexham’s Economic Sustainability:
Wrexham’s plan for economic stability focuses on the development of land for job growth (spatial planning) and tourism. The top employment sectors are manufacturing (11,643 jobs/ 18.3% of employment), retail (9,647/ 15.2%) and health and social care (9,264/ 14.6%) (Wrexham County Borough Council, 2015). Wrexham authorities and Welsh Development Agencies responded to the dip in economic activity in the 70s-80s with employment initiatives, with new jobs in manufacturing, commercial and service sectors. Despite these initiatives the local economy still faces a number of challenges such as competition from other parts of the UK and other countries, pockets of severe unemployment and deprivation, commuting to centres of employment outside the Borough leading to money leakage, increasingly dependent population and over reliance on manufacturing leaving the economy increasingly vulnerable to external decision making. (Wrexham Unitary Development Plan 1996 - 2011.)

Land Development:
The Wrexham Council Plan (2017-2022) outlines economic sustainability with three key economic well-being objectives: 1.	Encouraging people to live, work, learn and visit here 2.	Supporting businesses to locate and grow here and; 3.	Helping tackle poverty The vision outlined in the Wrexham Council Plan (2017-2022) is to investment across the region in infrastructure improvements, skills development and business support. Thus, the aim is to grow the economy by 2.8% and to £20 billion by 2035 to create over 120,000 new job opportunities. This goal will be achieved by the partner’s visions such as growth in deals for North Wales and Cheshire and Warrington (which are key investments in Wrexham). Objective 1 aims to secure the right land or buildings to attract high quality employment opportunities. Increase footfall in the town centre as more visitors will encourage spending and create more jobs. Finally conserve and regenerate key buildings to raise the overall quality on offer, the infrastructure and the public realm within the County Borough. Objective 2 aims create conditions for businesses to be able to develop and expand. To provide new and existing businesses the ability to operate in a digitally enabled and technology enhanced economy to secure a sustainable economy; in order to respond to local population growth and the creation of business and employment growth. Both objectives 1 and 2 help to contribute to objective 3 by tackling poverty.

Tourism:
‘The Welsh governments approach to monitoring service delivery has been characterised…on the recognition of its commitments and capacity to driver improvement from the bottom up’ (Andrews and Martin, 2010). The Wrexham Council Plan (2017-2022) is based on three themes: economy, people and place targeting to encourage people to visit the Borough. The Wrexham County Borough DMAP aims to create a stronger brand and sense of community identity, which will create a sense of pride locally making ‘a compelling visitor offer.’ The DMAP aims to explore how tourism can be built upon and ‘to increase average length of visitor stays’. Stated in the DMAP 2018-2020 the Wales Partnership for Growth Plan (2012-2020) provides a national framework for tourism development, looking at five key areas: promoting the brand, product development, people development, profitable performance and place building. Wrexham’s ‘Town Centre Masterplan’ (2016) highlights the historic core of the town and the market potential opportunity. Stating themes such as ‘a place to shop’ and ‘a place to visit’. Tourism spend has increased by 30% (in 2017) and contributing £116 million to the local economy, tourism supports around 1,600 full time jobs across the county borough due to the increase of day visits and local hotels/ accommodation providers hitting 80% occupancy per week (Wrexham.com, 2018). The focus for tourism growth is on the three existing tourism hubs Chirk Castle, Erddig Hall and the Pontcysyllte Aqueduct and Canal World Heritage Site. The town centre is also included in the priority visitor hub ‘key attractions’ that generate large volume of visitors (Wrexham County Borough Council, 2018-2020). However, ‘Wrexham town lacks a strong identity… has a number of vacant premises in prominent locations, (and) lacks an evening dining economy. The partnership with This is Wrexham would target a local audience and work with mitigating these issues’ (Wrexham County Borough Council, 2018-2020).

Wrexham’s Social Sustainability:
Previously within Wales, a ‘top down’ approach was common with policy making and funding, especially with the housing sector. However, due to devolution, a bottom up approach has been taken on. This approach brings more power to the community and allows them to influence policy decisions and the direction of funding. An example of a bottom up approach is the ‘Well-being plan’ in Wrexham. Social sustainability can be affected by numerous factors such as the welfare, well-being and housing problems, like homelessness. Wrexham has created projects and solutions in order to further develop their social sustainability. Wrexham Public Service Board (PSB) have recently approved their local well-being plan (2018-2023). This well-being plan is contributing to the sustainability of Wrexham as it recognises not only the opportunities of the future, but also the risks by showing that they ‘consider short-term needs against their long-term impact when making decisions and delivering services’. The well-being plan is also sustainable as it is working with the community and those who haven’t been heard, ‘PBS will listen to the voice of our communities’, to understand and ‘be clear about what problems PBS are trying to prevent’ (Wrexham Public Service Board, 2019). In addition to this they recognise if they can ‘support young people to set high standards for themselves, develop high levels of personal resilience and show respect for others’ then they will be better prepared for the opportunities, responsibilities and experiences of adult life’.

In addition to the well-being of Wrexham, homelessness is also an aspect which needs to be carefully monitored in order to bring success to social sustainability. The number of rough sleepers has risen in Wales, according to the latest Welsh government figures released in February. ‘Wrexham was found to have more rough sleepers than Swansea and Newport combined’, BBC (2018). As a result of this problem, Wrexham has been named one of the homeless capitals of Wales. Furthermore, it has also been named the worst place in Wales for homeless deaths. It has been estimated that ‘18 homeless people have died in North Wales since 2013 - eight of which were from Wrexham’, North Wales Live (2019) .In order to combat this major problem, there are multiple solutions being implemented, such as ‘The Wrexham Homelessness Prevention Project’, which provides ‘housing advice, homelessness prevention advice, substance misuse advice and support, support with independent living skills, benefits advice and support, help with budgeting, health and wellbeing advice and support’, Cais (2019). This project is helping the sustainability of Wrexham as it is preventing people from becoming homeless, which allows more effort to be put into helping those who are rough sleepers. In addition to this, the project also provides a Soup Kitchen for those who need it. However, for those who are already homeless, there are some short-term approaches which have been implemented. For example, shipping containers have been converted into temporary living spaces for homeless people until they can make ‘themselves ready for longer-term tenancies elsewhere’, a spokesman for Wrexham (2018). This shows Wrexham County Borough are making sustainable actions as they are temporarily housing ‘rough sleepers’ while they look for housing elsewhere. In addition to these projects, there has also been a legislation put in place to aid those who are threatened by homelessness, this legislation is the Housing (Wales) Act 2014. Unlike previous legislations, there is a much greater emphasis on preventing homelessness and helping those who are already homeless. Wrexham Council have stated that some of the main changes introduced include, ‘A new duty to help anyone threatened with homelessness within the next 56 days’ and ‘Stronger duties on Housing Associations to support Local Authorities in carrying out their homelessness duties’. The new legislation changes are aiding in the sustainability of Wrexham as it may entitle people to: temporary accommodation, permanent accommodation or advice and assistance.

This all shows that Wrexham County Borough Council is acting on the homelessness crisis and are actively making sustainable decisions, as proven by the various schemes and projects they have put in place.

Wrexham’s Cultural Sustainability:
Traditionally, Wrexham has had a rural culture and a community that has benefited from the agricultural industry. As time has gone on, the people of Wrexham Borough Council have consistently been able to find work in the agricultural sector, which at times has contributed to the ever-increasing issue of global warming in the form of the realise of carbon emissions. Therefore, in order to become sustainable Wrexham Borough Council has had to consider the importance of sustaining a eco-friendlier approach to agriculture. When reading the ‘Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Wrexham County Borough Council Local Development Plan’ (2018) it states that Wrexham Borough Council wants to “reduce carbon emissions and maximise resilience to climate change”. In years gone by, along with the rest of the world, the agricultural industry in Wrexham did not acknowledge the importance of minimising carbon emission, and the effects of burning fossil fuels at an exponential rate has on agriculture. A rise in global temperature will, and has, lead to more extreme weather patterns. If this were not to be addressed it would almost definitely result in a failure of crop yield, or a famine occurring on a far more regular basis. Addressing the reduction in carbon emission and maximising resilience to climate change in a development plan shows that there has been a cultural shift towards promoting a more green, eco-friendly and sustainable way of living. This shows that Wrexham is not a rural community that is cut-off from the rest of Wales and that it is capable of implementing cultural changes that benefit not just those in the surrounding areas of Wrexham but to those far further afield too. Culturally, North Wales is known for its large proportions of native Welsh speakers. According to ‘Wales Online’ (2015) “11% of the Welsh population are fluent in the Welsh language”. In the sustainability appraisal of Wrexham Borough Council published in February of 2018 it states that it will continue to “strengthen Wales’ cultural identity including the Welsh language”. Thus, showing how the cultural heritage and sense of identity felt in Wrexham is very much still of value today. Having a national language, such as Welsh, results in differences forming between nations which subsequently grows national identities. Wales has managed to sustain a relatively high amount of people who are fluent in Welsh by implementing Welsh speaking schools and enabling people to learn Welsh as a subject from a very young age. If measures such as these had not been taken into consideration it is highly likely that the Welsh language would have been lost. This would subsequently have resulted in the people of Wales having a weaker sense of national identity and the patriotic Wales that is known today would perhaps not be quite so evident. It is therefore of integral importance that the welsh language is included in the future sustainability of wales.

References:
BBC (2018) Shipping containers to house the homeless in Wrexham. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-45260455 Cais empowering change (2019) Homeless Prevention Available at: http://www.cais.co.uk/services/wrexham-young-persons-project/ ModernGov.wrexham.Gov.uk (2018) Sustainability Appraisal and Strategic Environmental Assessment of the Wrexham County Borough Council Local Development Plan. Available at: moderngov.wrexham.gov.uk/documents/s11378/Appendix%205.pdf North Wales Live (2019) Wrexham has highest number of homeless deaths in all of Wales Available at: https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/town-almost-half-homeless-people-15889728 Stafford. I (2017) ‘Reframing the Devolved Policy Landscape in Wales’ Routledge pp. 17-19 WalesOnline (2015) The state of the Welsh language: Number of people speaking Welsh fluently falls by 7,000 over the last decade. Available at: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/state-welsh-language-number-people-8538272 Wrexham Count Borough Council (2017) Council Plan 2017-2022 available at: http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/councilplan/2017-22/council_plan.pdf Wrexham Count Borough Council (2017) Council Plan 2017-2022 available at: http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/assets/pdfs/councilplan/2017-22/council_plan.pdf Wrexham County Borough Council (2018) ‘Destination Management Action Plan 2018-20’ Available at: http://moderngov.wrexham.gov.uk/documents/s11644/Appendix%201.pdf Wrexham Public Service Board (2019) Well-being Plan. Available at: https://www.wrexhampsb.org/well-being-assessment/ Wrexham.com ‘Major plans put forward to boost local tourism and increase visitors to Wrexham’ (May 2018) Available at: http://www.wrexham.com/news/major-plans-put-forward-to-boost-local-tourism-and-increase-visitors-to-wrexham-148739.html Wrexham.com ‘Major plans put forward to boost local tourism and increase visitors to Wrexham’ (May 2018) Available at: http://www.wrexham.com/news/major-plans-put-forward-to-boost-local-tourism-and-increase-visitors-to-wrexham-148739.html