City plan for whole new neighbourhood
HOMES, SCHOOL AND BRIDGE IN COUNCIL’S WATERSIDE VISION
NOTTINGHAM’S tram route could be extended and hundreds of new homes created as part of a masterplan to regenerate the city’s “neglected” Waterside area.
A riverside path, a river crossing and a 420-place primary school also form part of Nottingham City Council’s vision to create a new neighbourhood and connect it with the city centre.
The council’s hopes for the 66-acre site, which runs along Meadow Lane and Dale- side Road, on the north bank of the Trent, are detailed in a document which will guide future development.
Officials say they want high-quality, contemporary homes that will attract people wanting to live near a city, while also making better use of the River Trent and celebrating the city’s navigation heritage.
Councillor Jane Urquhart, portfolio holder for planning and housing, said: “We have long-held ambitions to develop the Waterside area close to the city centre, which has started to get under way with the development of Trent Basin.
“We want to see a new, sustainable community created alongside the River Trent between Trent Bridge and Colwick Park, and the whole area connected with the city centre and adjoining neighbourhoods, including Sneinton and The Meadows.
“Our Waterside Supplementary Planning Document sets out the scale of this ambition and gives future developers guidance on how to meet our aspirations, as well as some of the specific things we would like to see developed in this area, including high-quality new homes, a new school, preserving and enhancing the unique riverside location and green space and developing new transport links.
“This is at the early stage of a process which needs the Supplementary Planning Document to be approved by Executive Board before a consultation gets underway. We would then be working with developers and landowners to implement development schemes in line with our planning guidance.”
In addition to new homes and transport improvements, the council would like to see new streets and routes around the Waterside zone. Its hope is that the neighbourhood will be “strongly connected” to the city centre and the areas around it, as well as attracting families back to the city.
A “public realm”, including public open spaces, space for art projects, cafes, restaurants and sporting activities, is also mentioned in the plan. Within the zone itself, four housing schemes have already been approved, including the Trent Basin, Meadow Lane and Park Yacht Club developments.
Nick Ebbs, chief executive of Nottingham real estate developer Blueprint, which is behind Trent Basin, was a director of Nottingham Regeneration Ltd, which, at the turn of the century, wanted to see the redevelopment of the Waterside. This failed to materialise at the time for a number of reasons, including the recession. For Mr Ebbs, the document setting out the council’s vision for the area has been 20 years in the making.
He said: “It’s incredibly exciting. There is a lot of thought and a lot of content that has gone into it. I think there are now some very good reasons for confidence that the plan can be delivered. There are several developers acting in this area already and it has already proven to be very successful, so it is an exciting moment to create a new urban quarter in the city.
“The document is seeking to regenerate a much-neglected bit of Nottingham and to connect, or start building connections, between the river and the city centre. It is not a big distance but it has been cut off by this No Man’s Land for many decades and this will help to fill that gap.”
The Waterside Regeneration Zone comprises about 250 acres of land, the majority of which is industrial. The redevelopment plan focuses on about 66 acres of this available space.