THE number of people going to Stockton town centre appears to be going down - despite £20 million being spent on the town in a refurbishment which took two-and-a-half years.

Leader of the Conservative Group, Ben Houchen, said the news was a "damning indictment" of the Labour dominated council who had declined a "perfect opportunity" to radically reduce business rates for town centre shops which he argued might have made a bigger difference.

There are no hard comparative figures of real footfall in the town, but a survey conducted by North East Market Surveys (NEMS) shows that the number of people saying they shop in the town centre falling by one per cent from 2011 to 2015.

The High Street 're-opened' last March and there was some evidence to show, that despite the decline in people saying they use the town centre, that the refurbishment has still been positively received.

For example, nationally the number of people using town centre high streets has fallen by four per cent in the same period as Stockton's one per cent decline. Furthermore footfall, a calculation of real shoppers, at The Castlegate Centre in the town centre is up. The number of shopping trips to the centre increased by one million last year and footfall is up by two per cent in 2016 so far compared to the same period in 2015.

The issue was discussed at Stockton Borough Council's Cabinet on Thursday, although the apparent decline in shoppers was not raised by any councillor, despite it being mentioned in the agenda.

The report to the committee said the NEMS survey also showed an improvement in perception ratings for the town centre and that shoppers were staying for 30 minutes longer in 2015 compared to 2011. However the average amount of money shoppers spend in the town has remained the same at £38 per visit.

Councillors expressed hopes that the eventual re-opening of The Globe concert venue in spring 2017, turning the derelict Swallow Hotel into 138-bed student accommodation and the combined redevelopment of the Georgian Theatre and former Courtyard Hotel to create a 300-capacity music venue.

Stockton council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Transport, Cllr Nigel Cooke, said: “There is plenty of encouragement to be drawn from the survey, which found that visitors spend a lot more time enjoying all the town centre has to offer, approve of the physical improvements and find it easier to access.”

However Cllr Houchen said the council "had been warned" by the Conservatives that the town centre refurbishment would not work and said radically reducing the business rate for the town would have been a better idea.