Category: City Centre

Shaping the future of our city centre

A new vision for Plymouth city centre was unveiled yesterday (Tuesday 7 January) highlighting £400m of development and the huge potential of new leisure attractions.

The vision was revealed by the Plymouth City Centre Company in a 44-page business plan covering the next five years, reflecting the confidence and ambition of the city but also addressing concerns about the changing nature of the retail environment.

Steve Hughes, chief executive of the Plymouth City Centre Company, which runs the city centre’s Business Improvement District (BID), said: “We have £400 million of investment underway in the heart of our city and that is a huge vote of confidence in Plymouth.

“Our business plan details how we can take advantage of these developments to breathe new life into a very different High Street of the future for the benefit of all our city centre businesses, residents and visitors.

He told an audience of business managers and owners at the new Cineworld complex in The Barcode that the High Street was changing, not dying, and that the City Centre Company had pledged in the plan to work with partners to:

  • Deliver more homes, offices and leisure space
  • Attract more visitors
  • Improve public spaces
  • Find new uses for empty units
  • Animate the streets with more events and public art

The audience also heard how Mayflower 400 and the city’s new multi-million pound cultural attraction The Box, which is due to open this spring, have already attracted national and international coverage and are expected to attract several hundred thousand visitors to Plymouth.

The BID’s current five-year term comes to an end on March 31 this year and all city centre businesses now have the opportunity to vote for it to carry on its work for another five years.

Voting starts on 28 January. Mr Hughes added: “We have a track record of success in improving and investing in our city centre with events like Flavour Fest, Christmas activities and the West End Carnival, but also in providing vital services like our PARC (Plymouth Against Retail Crime) officers and trade waste collection.

“We hope businesses like our future plans - which have been shaped by them - and vote yes when their ballot papers arrive.”

The business plan can be read in full at www.citycentrebid.co.uk

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