What next for town centres?

Public consultation on long term plans to help reshape North Lanarkshire’s eight town centres is underway with residents, businesses and community groups being asked to give their feedback.

North Lanarkshire Council has developed draft town visions to start discussions on how town centres, including Wishaw, Motherwell and Shotts, can become viable, sustainable locations that meet the needs of local people.

The visions include ideas for housing, local services, retail opportunities, business development and leisure and green space.

“The way people use town centres has changed over time, as a result of developments like online shopping and out-of-town outlets, so we need to identify a new future for our traditional town centres,” said Pamela Humphries, head of NLC’s planning and regeneration.

“Our vision is to use town centres for a variety of purposes, not just shopping. With more people living within town centres, they become busier during the day and evening, so we plan to encourage the conversion of existing unused buildings into housing as well as building new homes.

“We want to improve the way public services are accessed and encourage more use of town centres for leisure.

“This will be done through town or community hubs, where education is delivered alongside other council and community services. We also want to improve active travel links between communities to reduce the reliance on cars.

“Each vision is designed around the individual character, heritage and facilities of our existing town centres, so we want to hear the opinions of local people on their town vision and help us make North Lanarkshire the best place to live, learn, work, invest and visit.”

The ideas for regenerated town centres are part of the council’s overall plan – The Place, The Vision – which sets out its ambitions for the area’s businesses and its people, boosting the local economy and creating jobs.

It aims to invest £3.5 billion over the next 10 years, which, along with private sector inward investment, will create around 12,000 jobs and generate an additional £1 billion for the local economy.

This is the first public consultation on the redevelopment of town centres but the council has held discussions with other interested parties and will continue to carry out extensive engagement with other public agencies, elected members, landowners, retailers and residents.

A separate consultation exercise is being held on potential sites for town and community hubs.

The six-week window opened on February 24 with an interactive virtual room and a survey for each town centre.

The consultation is available at https://www.northlanarkshire.gov. uk/regeneration-and-investment/ towns-and-communities/place-vision/ town-visions