To consider a presentation.
Minutes:
The Council’s Executive Director - Commercial Development and Economic Growth, Simon McEneny gave a presentation which covered the next two items on the agenda.
The presentation covered the Future High Street Advanced Town Deal and Town Deal Funding. Photographs were presented which showed what works had been carried out using the £1.75m government funding for Newcastle and £750,000 for Kidsgrove which had to be spent by the end of March, 2021.
The photographs included new gates at Clough Hall Park, the Pump Track at Newchapel which was opening tomorrow, a new 3G pitch at the King’s Academy and Kidsgrove Sports Hall. Photographs for the Newcastle area included the Knutton Community Centre demolition, Primary Care Trust building demolition, A34 central reservation repair, lighting to the stalls in the Ironmarket and transformation of the subways. The former jewellers in Lancaster Buildings had been acquired and refurbished to become a drop in skills hub.
The Future High Street funding was awarded at the start of spring 2021 and the Council now had authority to start demolition works at the former Civic Offices building in Merrial Street. The contract should be awarded in July this year and works commencing in August through to September/October 2022, paving the way for the redevelopment. Work would also commence on the new car park that would replace the Midway which would be done as part of the Town Deal Funding as it was not possible to fund this through the Future High Streets Fund.
The Council wanted to try and acquire the York Place building to open up the town centre so that it could be seen from the road with the creation of plaza’s.
The Kidsgrove Town Deal had been validated by the Government and the Council had received the first funding award for the sports centre. The second priority work was at Chatterley Valley for infrastructure works totalling £3.5m. Work would be carried out at the site entrance to would reduce and release the viability issue to release the site for approximately two thousand jobs, aiming to create an advanced ceramics campus. Kidsgrove Railway Station would also be upgraded with a new station and car park and mixed use development in the space in front of the station by the crossroads making the station more visible and accessible.
The Newcastle Town Deal of £23.6m was awarded last week. A total of £1.8m needed to be sliced off the original project that had been put forward. A priority of schemes would now be agreed and a decision made on which business cases to put forward.
The Chair thanked Simon McEneny and said that it was really positive news and real builds were starting to happen.
Councillor Olszewski asked about the Newcastle Town Deal Funding, whether it was ring-fenced for the town centre or was some designated for some of the village centres, in particular, Wolstanton.
Simon McEneny stated that both of the Town Deals had a ‘red line’ around them which was decided by the Town Deal Boards. For example the Newcastle red line goes up to Chatterley Valley. There would be some work as part of the Newcastle Town Deal for areas such as Knutton and Chesterton but at present, nothing was included for Wolstanton.
Councillor Olszewski asked if there was a reason for this.
Simon McEneny advised that a process was undertaken where there was a call for sites/projects which were then assessed, reviewed and accepted by the Board. He did not think that anything had been received from Wolstanton.
Councillor Olszewski did not think that there had been any consultation or ask of what local ward Councillors would like or that there was an opportunity to bid in Wolstanton.
Simon McEneny would check but he was almost certain that every Ward Councillor in the affected areas were advised of the Town Deal possibilities. The Council had tried to capture as many consultees as possible in that process and apologised if some Members had been missed.
Councillor Fear stated that it was nice to receive that some of money. He commented that two areas of Newcastle town centre had been identified as being problematic – York Place and the Roebuck Centre. If York Place could be acquired that would be a good thing and the question was asked, how good were the possibilities to do this? Half of the premises were occupied by viable units so would they be offered relocation. Also, could York Place be made much more consonant with the Ironmarket and town centre which had red brick buildings. Referring to the Roebuck Centre, Councillor Fear stated that there were very few viable units in there and thought that nobody would want to lose the frontage which had a historic value but what could be done with what was behind it to boost it up.
Simon McEneny stated that the Council was attempting to purchase York Place by direct negotiation with the owner. If it was acquired the viable businesses could have their tenancies ended for redevelopment and relocated. There were only about 7 or 8 tenants in the entire building so approximately 30% full. Upon inspection of the maintenance records, there was approximately £2-3m worth of repairs that needed to be done to bring it up to date.
The Council was in contact with the owner of the Roebuck Centre. There was just the one tenant in there now – Iceland. The frontage units forming part of the Roebuck had been sold off so the Centre was now the entrance and the space behind. There was no proposal to demolish or alter the outside of the Roebuck but part of the Town Deal for Newcastle was the establishment of the Circus school and performing arts centre. One of the aspirations and needs for that facility was space both horizontally and vertically, which the Roebuck had in the middle, so it would make a good space for that type of activity.
Councillor Fear suggested that the façade was most probably listed as a historic hotel.
The Council was aiming to bring different uses into the town centre through the use of these funds.
Members requested a copy of the presentation which would be sent to them.