Plans to power up the city centre’s regeneration are being put in place with a new structure to push the case for investment with government agencies and the private sector.
A strategic investment and regeneration board – made up of senior council officials and senior government and agency officials – is to be created to provide oversight of opportunities in the city centre and resolve issues. It will also identify funding opportunities and acquisitions.
A city centre projects oversight and delivery board tasked with delivering existing in-train city centre projects is also being set up as well as a working group to focus on the day to day delivery of live regeneration projects.
These structures will evolve as opportunity and purpose for the city centre develops, but the aim is to create conditions to take forward further development and regeneration and ensure that the existing projects are delivered and that funding opportunities are focussed on the city centre’s most important strategic priorities.
Cabinet Member for Finance Councillor Mark Lowry said: “The city centre is absolutely critical to the growth and reputation of Plymouth. We are looking at this with a fresh pair of eyes and need to inject pace and enthusiasm into our city centre and to help unblock some of the developments that have stalled or slowed right down.
“A lot of great progress and investment has been made in the last few years – we have the Box, which continues to bring in new visitors to the city, we have the Barcode, old units such as former BHS shop have new uses and Derry’s is now a Premier Inn and student accommodation block.
“We have amazing projects in the pipeline which will help reinvent the city centre as a place where people live and go out as well as somewhere to shop and eat, but we face challenges in terms of investment. We need to work harder and work together to overcome this.”
Councillor Lowry added: “We want funders to be confident that their investment is being used for the greater good of the city, to unblock sites and deliver homes, jobs and wider regeneration benefits for the city centre and the wider Plymouth population.
“Plymouth city centre has a footprint the size of Manchester’s but not the population to support it. Other cities similar to ours have an average of 8,000 homes in their city centre. We have only 1,000. We have a massive housing shortage, we have city centre sites crying out for use, but we need investment.”
A paper is going to Cabinet this month which outlines the proposals for the new structure and follows hot on the heels of a letter sent to Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, Michael Gove urging him to consider the city centre as one of the Government’s 20 named places for regeneration as part of the Levelling Up agenda.
The story so far
- £50m cultural investment in the Box museum, gallery and archive
- The delivery of the Barcode to bring in a significant leisure offer
- Re-purposing the former BHS retail unit
- Development of the former Derry’s store into to a Premier Inn and student accommodation block
- The 95-bed OYO hotel in the former Woolworth store
- Acquisition of properties for the long term redevelopment of Colin Campbell Court
- Phase 1 regeneration of the Railway station area, including a new gateline, public realm improvements and the refurbishment of Intercity Place to provide new teaching facilities for health professionals
- Transformation of Bath Street into an attractive boulevard, now with a hotel
- An on-going programme of public realm investments worth £26m – schemes include Old Town Street and New George Street, Armada Way, Civic Square.
Some of the projects in the pipeline
- The railway station / Brunel Plaza – A £100m redevelopment of area around Plymouth train station, providing a new home for the university’s Health and Life Sciences Faculty, a new hotel and multi-storey car park
- Civic Centre – A £40m refurbishment which will provide 144 new city centre homes and 5,000sqm of new commercial space
- The West End – The long term redevelopment of the West End and a new 3,500sqm Community Diagnostic Centre is earmarked for Colin Campbell Court
- Millbay, including Bath Street. Sites between the city centre and Millbay marina with the potential for 870+ homes including 136 affordable homes on Bath Street West
- Potential for up to 5,000 new homes in the city centre and nearby neighbourhoods.