Agenda item

Presentation by Director of Planning and Transport, Nottm City Council

Steve Hunt, Traffic and Road Safety Manager, gave a presentation on transforming the Broadmarsh area and highlighted the following points:

 

(a)  it is being done to create a transformed southern gateway to the city, and to boost the local economy by £1.1 billion GVA per annum with:

·  2,900 more jobs, with local training and recruitment;

·  3 million more annual visitors to experience new retail, education, and leisure facilities;

·  a restored city centre profile and reputation;

·  over half the catchment area shopping in Nottingham, up from one third;

·  a £25 million tourism spend benefit per annum;

 

(b)  via a £250 million co-ordinated programme (Phase 1 2016-20):

·  new buildings will be built and existing buildings will be improved for shopping, leisure and learning;

·  a vibrant daytime and evening economy will be encouraged;

·  the city centre will be improved and top quality public realm will be created;

·  heritage led tourism in the Castle Quarter will expand;

 

(c)  the transformation also includes:

·  the redevelopment of Intu Broadmarsh;

·  1,150 improved car parking spaces;

·  a new skills hub for 18,750 students;

·  improving the Castle as a national attraction, with over 500,000 visitors per annum;

·  modernised facilities for 20,000 bus passengers each day;

 

(d)  phase 1 projects include:

·  redevelopment of Intu Broadmarsh to link the station with the city centre;

·  extending the fashion offer on Drury Walk;

·  a refurbished high quality Broadmarsh car park and bus station, with cafés and commercial space;

·  a skills hub;

·  transforming Collin Street with shops, cafés, landscaping, water features, and public art;

·  a new cinema and restaurant offer, with an entrance to the pedestrianised Collin Street and Middle Hill;

·  modernising Carrington Street, with improved an street and frontages;

 

(e)  to complement the major developments:

·  there will be a co-ordinated programme of works to pedestrianise or provide pedestrian priority in attractive north-south and east-west routes;

·  bus and vehicular traffic will be relocated to appropriate alternatives;

·  transport impacts have been fully and transparently assessed;

·  there will be pedestrian priority junctions;

·  there is potential for a future tram stop;

·  the station hub and the tram/train interchange has been completed;

·  pedestrianising Collin Street will link the Creative Quarter with the Castle Quarter, with landscaping and attractive buildings;

·  there will be improved road crossings at Carrington Street/Canal Street to create a clear, safe and attractive walkway;

·  the Station Street pedestrianisation will create places for cafés, stalls and people;

 

(f)  with regard to traffic:

·  traffic flows on the Southern Relief Route will increase, but flows on Maid Marian Way will reduce;

·  congestion of the Southern Relief Route will increase at peak time, causing some traffic to redistribute to other roads;

·  the city’s road system will work, although some journey times will increase by a couple of minutes;

·  there will be some initial disruption but this will be minimised by informing drivers of the changes and alternatives;

·  alternatives will include the improved Ring Road;

·  city centre through traffic will reduce as more traffic uses the wider road network, taking different routes, for example, along the Boulevards and the upgraded Ring Road;

·  the Southern Relief Route will become the primary alternative route for east-west traffic still going through the city centre;

·  north-south traffic levels are maintained but congestion is reduced by increasing the number of southbound lanes on Wilford Street/Wilford Road;

·  use of the Broadmarsh and Arndale car parks will increase, and more people will use public transport, cycle or walk;

·  road safety will improve, noise will reduce, and air quality will improve;

 

(g)  new bus arrangements include:

·  an improved, safer Broadmarsh bus station;

·  Collin Street stops moving to Canal Street;

·  changes to routes, now being discussed with operators, to enable better pedestrian priority, public realm and air quality improvement, including:

o  the relocation of some services from Carrington Street to London Road and Wilford Street;

o  the relocation of Fletcher Gate/George Street services to Canal Street/Bellar Gate;

·  working with the bus companies on routing;

 

(h)  the heritage led tourism project includes:

·   

·  phase 1:

o  Castle improvements between 2017-19, including creating and improved visitor experience;

o  creating new tourism opportunities, eg, Castle Road;

·  phase 2:

o  completion of the project and opening up the view and access to the Castle;

 

(i)  the transformation project as a whole will:

·  be the biggest regeneration project in the city in the next five years;

·  transform the southern city centre;

·  be a hugely important impact on the local economy, particularly for job growth in construction, retail, tourism, hospitality, and education.

 

The following comments were made during the discussion:

 

(j)  the city centre needs to be a destination rather than a through route, but it is important not to deter people coming to the city centre;

 

(k)  it is a huge project that the city has needed for some time, that needs to be development of the whole area, rather than just the shopping centre;

 

(l)  the proposals for traffic have been thoroughly thought through and are achievable, but the development is still in consultation, so they are open for debate;

 

(m)  the project will involve lots of roadworks so it is important that the timing and diversions are right;

 

(n)  the BID is working closely with the Council on the changes to the accessibility of the city, and all methods of transport need to work;

 

(o)  some proposals require more work and consultation to ensure they are right before they can get underway;

 

(p)  there is concern that there could be an increase in traffic on the eastern side of the city, eg, around Sneinton Market;

 

(q)  it is important to make sure that the main traffic routes work to ensure that motorists don’t start using residential streets that aren’t designed for heavy traffic;

 

(r)  there will be a semi-competitive process for the design of the public realm.