Time to wake up!
POST’S RICHARD STIRS UP A HORNETS’ NEST AND ‘RADICAL’ STRATEGY TO STOP NOTTINGHAM ‘FALLING BEHIND THE CURVE’ COULD BE ON WAY
NOTTINGHAM needs to up its game to stop falling behind other major cities.
Or at least that is the opinion of Councillor Nick Mcdonald, who is in charge of putting together a strategy to do just that over the next 20 years for Nottingham City Council.
This is because the council has recognised there are problems with empty shops, homelessness, crime and anti-social behaviour.
But it is also keen to build upon recent success stories, like that of Sneinton Market.
Mr Mcdonald will chair a panel of 12 people who will look at what needs to be done to make sure the city stops “falling behind the curve” - and the solutions could be quite “radical”.
He said: “It’s a piece of work which we think is needed. We’ve done wonderful things already – the redevelopment of the Market Square, Sneinton Market and the tram.
“But when you go to a city like Manchester or Liverpool, we are behind the curve. It’s the Broadmarsh that has held us back – we should have sorted it earlier.
“It has stopped investment coming in at the rate it needed to. We should have been doing more 20 years ago, but it’s not too late now.
“We are still head and shoulders above Derby and Leicester and we need to remain there. Nothing will be off limits.”
The strategy, once adopted by the council, will give guidance in a wide range of areas, from planning and licensing to lighting and transport.
It will aim to “build a balanced mix of independent and national retailers” with more offices and homes in the centre that are not just for students.
It will also consider challenges caused by changing shopping habits as people move online.
Mr Mcdonald said it could include deciding which buildings needed to be demolished and rebuilt, how to encourage people to explore areas away from the Victoria Centre-broadmarsh axis, such as Sneinton Market, and recovering heritage buildings.
“We’re not a dictatorship, we can’t just knock down buildings when we fancy it,” he said.
“But we need to identify where development needs to happen and where architectural mistakes have been made.
“There are unpolished gems and we need to polish them.”
One of the “architectural mistakes” he highlighted was the Nottingham College building in Maid Marian Way, which he said “needs to be razed to the ground – and it will be”.
He added that he recognised all of this would not come cheap but the strategy would commit the council to finding that money.
This could come from tax schemes or government grants, particularly as EU funding – which has been “significant” in a lot of the previous large projects – is likely to run out.
Beyond this, details are thin on the ground as it is early days for the project.
Jeff Allen, chairman of Nottingham Business Improvement District (BID) said: “Nottingham BID is looking forward to working with Nottingham City Council planning the future of the city centre. These are challenging times indeed and, as a city, we need to ensure that we make the most of our assets, mitigate the problems that are facing all cities and take a holistic approach to the city centre development.”
The panel will be a combination of council representatives and people from local businesses and organisations.
The council representatives include the corporate director for development and growth; Chris Henning, corporate director for commercial and operations Andy Vaughan; director of One Nottingham Nigel Cooke; and director of planning Paul Seddon.
Business representatives include Jeff Allen, of the BID; Brendan Moffett, of Marketing NG; Stephen Barker, of the Creative Quarter; and Richard Tresidder, of Nottinghamshire Live. The panel will now start work in earnest and will produce its final strategy in March. The council will then vote on whether to adopt it.
The news comes after Mr Tresidder, the Nottingham Post’s former business editor, wrote an opinion piece in which he said: “Victoria Centre is thriving, Broadmarsh is limping and the Old Market Square is failing to fire on all cylinders.”
And it certainly got people talking. More than 500 voted in a poll at the bottom of the article and almost half said the square just needed a clean. But almost a third of people suggested we just knock it down and start again.