I’VE no idea if the £26m paid for Church Square Shopping Centre by St Helens Council (in 2017) was value for money or not.

However, having control of all major shopping areas in town gives them potential to build a more sensible offering.

However, what happens here and now needs to be shaped for 30 years in the future.

So, the new town centre needs to be less about retail and more about what a town needs to be placed centrally - so I’m talking some retail, but also transport, education, culture, leisure, heritage, events, health, services for people and entertainment.

Big mistakes were made planting a retail park a mile away from the town centre and making it near impossible to get to unless you have a car.

Right now everyone needs to be thinking to decades in the future in order to make the new town centre viable.

Jon Milligan, via Facebook