New masterplan for future of town

Council looks to ‘reposition’ Newbury in wake of pandemic

A NEW vision for a post-coronavirus Newbury is being sought as West Berkshire Council is forming a masterplan for the town centre.

The council is looking for a masterplanner to respond to the pandemic and “reposition the town’s commercial, leisure and residential offer”.

The masterplan will replace the Newbury Vision, a document which sets out how the council wants the town to look and feel for visitors and the community.

The vision was published in 2003 and expires in 2026.

It included opening the Parkway Shopping centre, Vue cinema and pedestrianising Northbrook Street.

Unachieved ambitions include regenerating the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) and enhancing the Wharf with water features.

The brief for the estimated £125,000 contract seeks a “specialist multi-disciplinary consultancy team to produce a supplementary planning document for Newbury town centre which addresses a series of specific challenges and takes advantage of emerging opportunities to reposition the town’s commercial, leisure and residential offer and ensure it continues to meet the needs of existing and future town users”.

The new masterplan will need respond to shifting retail patterns, a changing population demographic, technological advances and respond to the council declaring a climate change emergency.

As reported in the Newbury Weekly News, the council had said that a masterplan study for Newbury could be commissioned to assess the impact of coronavirus in the town and how the council could harness investment.

The council’s chief executive Nick Carter said: “There was always a commitment to refresh the vision and produce something that’s a bit more detailed than the vision.

“Covid has brought some new challenges, it’s gone out now asking for bids.”

When asked whether the town centre masterplan would link in with the new masterplan for the LRIE, Mr Carter said: “This is very much about the town centre and how we want it to look going forward.

“This is very much about the core town centre.

“They are two separate pieces of work.”

Mr Carter said the council would use the Newbury West Berkshire economic development company for engagement work.

But he added it would “probably be a couple of months before we get anywhere with it”.

Mr Carter said there no plans to extend the temporary traffic order banning traffic in Northbrook Street and Market Place 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The order came into effect in June to enable people to spread out and safely stay two metres apart until September.

Mr Carter said “It was in place to assist with social distancing.

“I’m not aware of anything to make it permanant.”

The masterplan brief includes research and analysis, visioning, stakeholder engagement and production of draft and final reports.

The brief says that the successful bidder will need to “illustrate that they have the creative drive to address the challenges and provide an imaginative, innovative and inspiring vision that can be translated into tangible deliverable projects”.

Architects Journal reports that bids to deliver the contract will be evaluated 60 per cent on quality and 40 per cent on cost.