Sutton Harbour East Interim Planning Statement

Establish a balanced, integrated, sustainable new community in central Plymouth

Harbour East occupies an attractive and prominent waterfront location in Sutton Harbour. It lies within close proximity of Plymouth City Centre, key public transport interchanges and amenities. Exeter Street and Barbican Approach - major transport corridors into the city - form the areas north and south boundaries.

The last decade has seen the transformation Harbour Easts derelict industrial waterfront. New offices, apartments, leisure attractions, hotels and infrastructure have been developed.

However, significant parts of the area remain disused or dominated by low-density, land hungry, ad hoc commercial and industrial uses. Many of these detract from the appearance of the area, and shut down at night. Sizeable parts of the area lack any evening activity and can consequently feel unsafe and threatening. Key sites were identified as poorly utilised in the Sutton Community Planning Study.

An important opportunity exists to comprehensively restructure the area and create a sustainable, integrated neighbourhood of a quality that befits its strategic central location. Introducing a more diverse mix of uses will help create a more vibrant and welcoming area.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• create an area of balanced, mixed communities with positive relationships, engage communities in the shaping of the built environment and neighbourhoods
• respect and incorporate existing historic communities
• create a sustainable, integrated urban village, with opportunities to live, work, shop and socialise locally
• raise areas profile, promote Harbour East as an attractive cultural visitor destination
• encourage appropriate activities and attractions that add to the areas vibrancy - generating street level activity, encouraging people to visit and linger
• provide local services and activities that meet the needs of local people, employees, businesses, visitors and the wider community
• seek to establish a fine grain of sensitively varied use mixes - including residential, retail, community uses, entertainment, leisure, arts, workshops, offices and other suitable employment uses
• encourage activity during the day/evening/weekend, guard against creation of single use areas
• safeguard the character of existing communities and uses that give parts of the area distinctive character
• introduce mixed dwelling types/sizes, affordable/key-worker housing and mixtures of tenure.
• establish opportunities for flexible live/work accommodation
• promote innovative public art and interpretation as an integral part of the areas redevelopment

Create an attractive, lively, accessible waterfront where people can promenade and congregate

The waterfront is the Harbour East areas most striking asset. Comprehensive redevelopment of the area presents an opportunity to maximise the benefits of this positive feature.

Public access to important parts of the quayside is currently either impossible or fragmented. There's an opportunity to improve public access to the harbour side through creation of attractive, integrated walkways and open spaces.

Harbour Easts quayside lies on the route of the Sutton Harbour Heritage trail. There's an opportunity to link up and complete this route enabling people to walk a circular route and promenade around the majority of the waterfront.

Active ground floor uses and publicly accessible buildings will help to enliven the quayside spaces and walkway to attract people, and create a lively destination.

Key opportunities exist to improve and broaden visual access to the waterfront raising the areas profile, creating new strategic harbour views and extending community access to this amenity.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Establish Harbour East as a vibrant, distinctive and diverse destination in central Plymouth
• Create generous areas of public open space on the quayside and on important streets in the new neighbourhood
• Create new strategic views and vistas - extending community access to the harbours visual amenity and encouraging redevelopment of areas previously without water views
• Organise streets and buildings to ensure that whole neighbourhood feels like a waterfront location.
• Use harbour views to create a sense of arrival on the approach to the harbour and city centre 
• Seek to establish publicly accessible buildings, attractions and uses along the waterfront
• Seek provision of active ground floor uses along the waterfront walkway services and facilities appropriate to the location
• Promote entertainment, leisure and arts uses to enliven the waterfront walkway.
• Create framed views from Exeter Street towards the harbour, Barbican and Hoe - an effective sense of arrival on the approach to the city centre
• Safeguard and enhance key port, maritime and industrial uses/economies
• Promote marine, leisure and tourism related retail in addition to catering for local community needs
• Investigate opportunities for maritime related events and exhibits (such as the Cutty Sark at Greenwich or the SS Great Britain at Bristol for example)
• Investigate opportunities for a restaurant/visitor centre related to the Fish Market

Improve access to and through the area

Harbour East is in close proximity to Plymouth City Centre, yet it isn't well integrated with either it or other surrounding areas. To improve the quality of the area, it is vital that links and connections are established and improved.

Public access to the waterfront is currently restricted. Improving physical access to and around the harbour side would create a significant amenity and attraction for the local community and visitors alike. Opportunities also exist to improve visual access to the harbour.

Significant barriers to pedestrian movement in the area include large inaccessible development blocks - preventing pedestrians moving directly towards desired destinations. Walkers are often forced to take convoluted and confusing routes.

Similarly, heavily trafficked routes such as Exeter Street, Sutton Road, Barbican Approach and Shapters Road/Gdynia Way restrict pedestrian movement to and through the area.  Junctions between Exeter Street/Sutton Road and Barbican Approach/Sutton Road also hamper movement, and represent poor pedestrian environments.

There are key opportunities to improve pedestrian and cycle linkages to the north, Coxside, Barbican Approach, Beaumont Park/Church, Cattedown, St Judes, Ebrington Street, Bretonside, the Barbican and the city centre.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Create and improve connections and linkages to surrounding areas, ensure successful integration with the wider city
• Improve pedestrian permeability through the area along desire lines to key locations.  Create safe accessible routes (particularly north/south routes through St Johns Road / Clare Place commercial uses)
• Break down barriers to pedestrian movement created by busy roads and junctions
• Facilitate easy and safe pedestrian crossing of Exeter Street, Sutton Road and Barbican Approach
• Examine opportunities to create physical and visual links between the harbour, Exeter Street and key landmarks such as St Johns Church
• Enhance way-finding through area using innovative, rationalised signage and new/existing landmarks  
• Provide pedestrian access to and along the waterfront
• Join up and complete the Sutton Harbour Heritage Trail
• Create pedestrian link from south of Shepherds Lane to quayside
• Improve connections with Sustrans National Cycle Network (Route 4)
• Enhance links between the Sutton Harbour Heritage Trail, Waterfront Walkway and South West Coastal Path
• Augment the role of the lock bridge in providing linkage between the Barbican and Harbour East

Conserve and enhance the best historic townscape

Few places in the world have witnessed as many significant historical events as Sutton Harbour Plymouth's original commercial port. The area has undergone radical changes in modern times.

The historic development patterns, use mixes, and maritime heritage have left the Harbour East area with a variety of buildings, features and materials of historic interest. The prominence of the area to visitors, and its contribution to the citys identity, demands that new developments complement the historic setting. The harbours open aspect makes views through the area to historically significant landmarks such as St Johns Church, St Judes Church, Beaumont Park and the Coxside Gas Holder structures particularly important.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Create high quality townscape appropriate to the areas important historic grain
• Seek to conserve key structures, surface treatments, features and materials of historic interest in-situ where possible
• Investigate and assess sites of archaeological interest  
• Conserve and enhance the areas historic public houses
• Use lighting to celebrate key landmark buildings and structures of historic interest
• Conserve Sutton Roads historic curved alignment this also serves to naturally calm traffic
• Improve the setting of St Johns Church 
• Conserve the alignment of St Johns Street, which frames easterly view of Charles Church
• Conserve and enhance Shepherds Lane historic granite paved, limestone walled route from St Johns Bridge Road to Sutton Road
• Conserve St Johns Bridge and improve its setting
• Ensure continued use and secure future of St Johns Bridge Road school building
• Conserve and enhance the distinctive Alma Cottages, workshops, retail units and their setting
• Seek to improve the setting of China House
• Provide interpretation of relevant historic information at key points along the Sutton Harbour Heritage Trail
• Investigate the feasibility of, and potential locations for, a Heritage Trail Room.
• Arrange urban form to enhance strategic views that contribute to the areas distinctive character including views to:
  • The Plymouth Sound
  • Sutton Harbour
  • St Johns Church
  • St Judes Church
  • Charles Church (framed by vista east from St Johns Road)
  • The Barbican/Citadel/Hoe
  • Coxside gas holder structures
  • Beaumont Park
  • City centre
  • Dartmoor

Create a safe environment where pedestrians and cyclists have priority

Key roads, streets and lanes within the Harbour East area are dominated by traffic. This has a detrimental effect on pedestrian/cyclist movement and safety discouraging the use of these sustainable transport modes.

Surface level car parking occupies many prime spaces between buildings.

The dominance of the motor vehicle contributes significantly to the areas poor quality public realm.

Relationships between pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles need to be re-appraised. New sustainable transport management measures need to be introduced to create a safe, accessible environment that puts pedestrians and cyclists first.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Provide safe routes for pedestrians and cyclists with priority in streets and spaces throughout the area
• Promote sustainable alternatives to car travel.  Investigate the role of green travel plans, public transport, buses, water-transport, car-pools, car-sharing and trams (LRT) in the longer term
• Encourage travel modes that make in-town car transport unnecessary
• Consider implications of achieving pedestrian priority, and revised traffic management including impact on wider transport network
• Create an accessible environment for people with special needs
• Investigate potential for high quality home-zones within the area
• Rationalise and integrate street furniture and signage, maximise clutter-free pedestrian walkway space
• Relocate/provide new bus stops on pedestrian desire lines
• Calm Sutton Road traffic improve pedestrian walkways  
• Shepherds Lane is currently used as a rat-run, space for vehicles to pass pedestrians is limited.  Investigate implications of creating a safe pedestrian/cyclist only route
• Opportunity to reclaim public realm and improve pedestrian safety at Sutton Road/ Barbican Approach junction
• Rationalise car parking, reduce visual intrusion/inefficient space usage of surface level parking, seek to site parking within hidden courtyard parking, underground parking or under-building parking
• Examine access needs and facilities for emergency vehicles, servicing, supplies, waste removal and associated uses
• Minimise on-site parking, consider parking permits in lieu of on-site parking.
• Promote a rigorous parking management strategy
• Investigate evening and permit-holder use of Barbican/Coxside Car Park
• Encourage provision of secure cycle parking within developments

Create a hierarchy of high quality streets and spaces

Although pockets of attractive streets and spaces exist in the area, the quality of many has been eroded by ad hoc development and is consequently poor. Harbour Easts fractured townscape sits in stark contrast to the Barbican's tight, clearly defined urban grain.

Spaces between buildings are not well structured. Orientation is difficult for pedestrians within this environment. Many public spaces in the area do not make a positive contribution to Harbour Easts attractiveness. There's a lack of high quality public open spaces where people can congregate.

There is therefore a great opportunity to restructure the public-realm throughout the Harbour East area in a comprehensive, meaningful way. Creation of well-designed, integrated streets and spaces will have a very positive impact upon the identity, image and quality of the environment.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Create high quality urban form a well-defined, legible townscape grid where buildings and spaces have a positive relationship
• Create attractive, safe, human scale streets - integrate and enhance key established street patterns
• Create a linked series of meaningful public spaces for different functions from large public open spaces to play-spaces and private courtyards
• Create a strategically positioned grand public square for gathering, performance and events
• Establish and enhance active ground floor uses to enliven the quayside, Sutton Road, Exeter Street, important corners, key new streets and spaces
• Ensure overlooking of public spaces to promote natural surveillance - discourage crime through careful design, public consultation and police liaison
• Introduce strong structural tree planting, promote a more attractive pedestrian environment, create shelter, human scale enclosure, green Exeter Street, Barbican Approach, St Johns Road, the waterfront walkway and other key routes
• Seek to provide a broad, integrated quayside promenade, the width of which should relate positively to building heights
• Establish clear public realm guidelines and sustainable/ethical palettes of materials
• Create distinctive, high quality up-to-date landscaping, street furniture and signage, address the issue of landscape continuity with North Quay
• Establish a rigorous, effective public realm maintenance regime
• Building footprints to address streets, spaces and be aligned to harbour wall where they address it
• Create compact, high-density development with an appropriate density that maximises sensitive regeneration of sites.  
• Promote innovative lighting of buildings and spaces (identify opportunities for film image projection on to buildings, for example).

Introduce new high quality architecture

The quality of architecture in an area has a significant bearing on the quality of the environment. Improved design standards will enhance civic pride.

It's critical that new buildings in the Harbour East area make an effective contribution to the townscape. New architecture should be of excellent quality, robust, adaptable and provide a positive legacy for the future.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Seek delivery of high quality, sustainable, up-to-date architecture
• Encourage innovative, inspirational, world-class buildings
• Seek architectural competitions for landmark buildings on key strategic sites
• Seek development of key publicly accessible buildings within the area (for example Arts Cinema/Media Centre)
• Promote design collaborations with artists
• Buildings should be orientated to address and reinforce streets and spaces - including the quayside
• Height and bulk of new buildings should relate sensitively to surrounding buildings and landscape forming a new grid of human-scale streets and spaces
• Ensure buildings are robust with flexible accommodation and adaptable for a variety of uses as requirements change over time
• Seek sustainable building design features such as solar panels, south-facing windows, triple glazing and natural ventilation
• Endorse use of local/recycled materials and ones from environmentally responsible, renewable and ethical sources
• Seek high quality private/semi-private amenity spaces for residents, including roof gardens and terraces

Establish positive gateways between Sutton Harbour East and neighbouring city areas

Harbour East is itself an important gateway to Plymouth and to key strategic locations including the city centre, the Barbican and the National Marine Aquarium.

There are a number of important gateway points into the Harbour East area. Gateways are critically important because they create the first impression of an area for many people. They play a key role in contributing to an areas image.

Consequently, it's important that the arrangement of buildings and spaces in gateway locations creates a positive environment that performs a number of roles.

Gateways should provide a seamless transition between distinctive city quarters. They should be welcoming, create a sense of arrival, and make it easy for people to orientate themselves.

There's a significant opportunity to improve gateways into Sutton Harbour East for pedestrians, cyclists, motorists and people using public or water transport.

The following goals are important in this regard:

• Enhance Sutton Harbour Easts role as a city gateway in conjunction with the Plymouth Gateway Framework
• Create new landmarks in key strategic gateway locations, improve gateways to the area from Exeter Street and northwards
• Seek a landmark gateway corner building at the Exeter Street/Sutton Road junction
• Improve gateway to area from Barbican Approach
• Seek a landmark gateway corner building on the important Penrose Yard site (corner of Commercial Road and Lockyers Quay
• Improve gateway to area from West Pier
• Enhance the Lock Bridges gateway role for pedestrians and water transport
• Improve gateways to area from Cattedown and Astor Park
• Improve gateway to area from North Quay and Harbour Avenue
• Improve gateways to area from Commercial Road and Coxside
• Improve gateways to waterfront
• Improve the gateway role of key existing landmarks, investigate opening of new, and enhance existing, vistas to landmarks