Plymouth's vision to create a welcoming entrance to Britain's Ocean City is taking a significant step forward with plans for a new coach hub and a new leisure development in the city centre. Millions of pounds could be pumped into both the West End and the eastern part of the city centre, as part of a major investment package proposed by British Land, the owner of Drake Circus and the UK's largest listed retail landlord. The Council’s Cabinet is today being briefed on the project and shown the proposals to transform the tired site at Bretonside bus station with a leisure scheme valued at £42 million.
City Centre Development - A Brand New Coach Station!
'Drake Circus Leisure' includes a 12-screen cinema complex, 13 restaurants as well as parking for over 400 cars. The development will see extensive improvements to public areas with features, installations seating and planting. The scheme would transform the link from the city centre to the Barbican and the Waterfront, making it far more attractive and easier for visitors and shoppers to move from one to the other.
As part of the proposals a new multi-million pound coach hub is envisaged on the site of the soon-to-be-demolished Mayflower West car park, in the city's West End. There will also be public parking for cars.
The agreement will means that both Bretonside and the West End of Plymouth will see investment worth millions of pounds, which in turn will generate a new level of interest in both areas. It will also create almost 350 operational jobs and around 260 construction 267 jobs. Councillor Tudor Evans said: "This is a company with a proven record of delivering in Plymouth and for Plymouth and while it is early days, this looks an incredibly exciting prospect." "Our city centre supports over 14,000 jobs and 14 per cent of the work force, but we need to need to mix things up a bit, bring more business and a wider offer into the city centre – which in turn brings in more people to shop, eat and enjoy what we have here."Councillor Mark Lowry, Cabinet member for finance said: "For a long time we have recognised that Bretonside has long passed its sell-by date. We also want to keep shoppers coming into the West End. These two schemes have the potential to address both of these."
The Council's cabinet members were also given an outline of how the new-look coach hub might look. The terminal would be a hub for intercity coach services with bays for long-distance coach services, waiting room, booking office, toilets and significant improvements to the look and feel of the streets around the site as well as more parking. Locating the bus hub in the West End could lead to an extra 200,000 people visiting this part of the city centre.
The proposal also includes an 'innovation centre' in one of the empty buildings overlooking the site which could get a new lease of life as a centre for start-ups firms run by graduates. It is a joint venture between the Council and Plymouth University to transform Taylor Maxwell House with facilities for fledgling businesses in a central location. This builds on an already successful partnership between the Council and the university at Plymouth Science Park in supporting start-ups and accelerating businesses with growth ambitions. Professor Julian Beer, Pro Vice-Chancellor (Regional Enterprise), said: "The new innovation centre will offer a pathway into the city's economy and marketplace for talented graduates and young entrepreneurs, and will work in tandem with our Formation Zone incubation spaces here on campus, the Science Park, and the GAIN network. "From our experience of running the hugely successful Innovation Centres in Cornwall, such creative ecosystems offer a great opportunity for businesses to work together and develop joint pitches and expertise."
Councillor Lowry said: "City centres evolve and must constantly change in order to thrive. These are exciting times for Plymouth and its retailers and I hope they are encouraged by the new levels of interest from significant investors who believe in Plymouth. We are working really hard as a city to attract inward investment and are meeting a lot of interested parties – this is just the start."
Councillor Mark Coker, Cabinet member for Transport added: "Visitors and passengers who come to Plymouth need a good impression from the moment they disembark. This new bus hub will help us achieve this."
A Plan for Plymouth City Centre was presented at the Cabinet and gave details of how the Council and partners are delivering initiatives and actions, investing significantly in the city centre with projects that are truly transformational.
Plymouth's historic past and rich cultural offer is enjoying a £73 million investment from city partners including the Council, Plymouth University and Plymouth College of Art and Design.
North Hill is attracting new visitors enjoying arts and cultural events in new state of the art facilities thanks to a £36 million investment in the Levinsky's faculty of arts (including Peninsula Arts gallery), the University's new £7 million performing arts building and the College of Art’s new £8 million creative workspaces.
Also in the pipeline is Plymouth's History Centre. It's a £24 million project to transform the existing museum into a cutting-edge interactive visitor attraction.
Doug Fletcher, Chair of the City Centre Company said: "I am delighted to see the City Council prioritising the City Centre given its importance to Plymouth. The Plan for the City Centre is to be welcomed and in particular it is pleasing that the West End is being prioritised with a new coach station and Council premises becoming major new anchors and driving vital footfall."
Other measures include:
- Council to move some staff to premises in New George Street later this year
- 340 city centre businesses including shops and cafes could be eligible for business relief
- New signs for visitors
- £7 million regeneration scheme for Plymouth Theatre Royal – including transforming the area around it, creating clean, open spaces
- The historic Derry’s Clock gets pride of place in a new-look piazza
- Improvements to Frankfort Gate, including repairs, maintenance work and clearer space and seating
- New play area for city centre
- Investing in shopper and visitor facilities – the Armada Way toilets have won accolades in the Loo of the Year award two years in a row
- The entire city centre will be a giant WIFI hotspot. Shoppers and visitors will be able to access the internet on their smart phone, laptops or tablets for free on the go
For more information visit our Plan for the City Centre page.
So, what do people think of the new Mayflower Coach Station?
I have seen plenty of comments that it is too small, but is this such a big issue? There are hardly any bus services using Bretonside these days. This coach station seems to be purely for long distance coach services in which case it seems big enough to me. Its hard to tell from the flythrough but it seems that there might be room for a few coaches to layover at the opposite end to the main bus stop shelter.
They clearly will need to find somewhere else for visiting coaches to park though. Those of us who remember the 'good old days' when Bretonside was worth a visit will recall it bursting at the seems full of visiting coaches. These days are long gone and today you are more likely to find it full of lorries than coaches. (The council will need to find somewhere else for these too!)The one big issue which I can see as a potential problem is the access to the station from Mayflower Street. It seems a bit tight! They will have to lose the on street parking there as otherwise it wont work. Space is already tight so having large coaches (14M) pulling in and out can only make it worse. If they keep the road clear then hopefully this will work.
We know that finding a new coach station for the City Centre is going to be a compromise as there are not a lot of large empty spaces sitting around waiting for development.
The location seems a good one if they get the access right. I do like the look of what is going in at Bretonside too as that is an area which desperately needs sorting out. As the gateway to Plymouth for many visitors, Bretonside has been a disgrace for too many years now.
I do like the slightly retro look they have gone for the main entrance too! (They will make it high enough to accept double deckers wont they?)
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