It's a shame, as this was one of the first designer outlets in the country and it used to be thriving. The idea was that designer stores often had old stock to clear but didn't want to sell it near their regular stores because then people would resent the high mark-up, so they put them in outlets in the middle of nowhere. As my home town is indeed in the middle of nowhere, it was an ideal location. Unfortunately, once people got used to the idea of designer outlets, new ones were opened in more convenient locations, leaving the pioneering ones abandoned.
As the TripAdvisor reviewers seem to agree, it's a shame because it still has a lot of potential.
Oh well. I expect they'll sell the site and build houses on it, if the council can be persuaded to agree. Ironically, that might give the town enough of a critical mass of people that a designer outlet shopping village might do quite well.