Presentation by Director of Planning and Transport, Nottm City Council
Minutes:
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.