Issue - meetings

(Report of the Assistant Director, Growth & Regeneration)

The Chair reported that the Leader of the Council had sent his apologies for this item at which he had been due to attend, and requested that his thanks to Officers for the production of the report be noted.

The Chair welcomed Mr Matthew Fletcher, Head of Economic Development & Regeneration and Mr David Hunter, Senior Regeneration Officer to the meeting to introduce the report which updated the Committee on the findings of the Gungate Regeneration Quarter Consultation.

It was reported that the masterplanning work for the area had been carried out in 2019.  A digital public consultation had been held during February 2021, to which 209 responses had been received as well as social media comments and these had been summarised in the report for the Committee’s consideration.

The Committee considered and debated the report and highlighted the following:

·       The report provided a good and balanced summary of the disparate responses received from the public, that demonstrated that there was no single answer and that a number of issues were identified;

·       The public did not want to see the local heritage damaged and that the heritage was important;

·       There was an acknowledgement that the council could not deliver the solutions ourselves and that there would need to be parties and partners who were prepared to come forward to develop solutions;

·       There appeared to be, on balance, a view that developing the area for shops would be unlikely;

·       There was some consensus that the site would support mixed uses, including residential use, although there was not a consensus on the type of residential use;

·       More people living in the town centre could support its vibrancy;

·       The possibility of the site for use for some centralised medical services, given the transport links into the town, although not at the expense of services in the local neighbourhoods;

·       The importance of the road infrastructure;

·       Overall the Committee considered that it was important that flexibility was retained in the aspirations for the area to ensure that responses to changing trends could be made.

RESOLVED that the Committee:

1.     Noted the results of the Public consultation on the future of the Gungate site and the proposed next steps; and

2.     Noted the public’s desire for a mixed use solution and Recommended to Cabinet that the council embraces a mixed use vision for the future of the town centre.

(Moved by Councillor Dr S Peaple and seconded by Councillor S Goodall)