COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

A blueprint for the future development of Warwick town centre will be unveiled during a district council executive meeting next Wednesday.



Proposals to turn the Market Hall Museum back over to retail use and develop a whole museum quarter around St John’s are among the preferred options that will be put out for consultation.

Most of Warwick town centre is designated as a conservation area as it contains more than 300 listed properties, including a number of Grade I listed buildings and scheduled monuments.

The consultation document was prepared by Warwick Town Centre Partnership which comprises members of the town, district and county councils, the Chamber of Trade and Warwick Society.

A mixture of residential and retail is preferred for Theatre Street and Market Street where it was considered important to retain shops close to the bus station and outlets in Westgate House.

In Linen Street the underused multi-storey car park could be changed to residential use with redesigned lower-level car park below.

In Northgate Street, where the majority of buildings are listed, it is hoped town houses could be restored, the former court offices converted to residential use and a public space created.

The county council’s Barrack Street car park - which blocks views of St Mary’s church from the Saltisford approach - could be flattened with few people shedding many tears.

Instead the land could be used for a mixed-used development incorporating a public car park.

Health facilities in Cape Road might be better accommodated on the site of the police station with the former fire station land used for affordable housing.

The fragile St Michael’s chapel, behind which lies the old Leper Hospital, could be renovated to form a heritage centre whiie land around St John’s House museum would be developed to accommodate the Market Hall and other local collections in what could become a museum quarter.

The town centre partners also believe the castle’s Stables car park is not making the best use of space and could be considered for a hotel or more houses with underground car parking accessed from Castle Hill.

James Mackay of the Warwick Society, one of the partners in the consultation group, said: “The Market Hall should be absolutely the centre of commercial activity in this fine town which must have an economic strategy.”

Overwhelming approval for the vision of how Warwick should develop in the future was given by members of the district council’s executive committee this week.

Proposals not just on how certain buildings should evolve to meet modern needs but how to improve the poor air quality in the town centre are all part of the plan.

And the Courier’s month-long campaign to encourage local shopping could have been tailor-made for one of the new targets: “Shaping the town centre economy so that a higher proportion of everyday local needs are met by it.”

Councillors believe that while the historic town and castle will continue to attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every year, there would be slightly less dependence on their money if more locals used retail and leisure outlets and therefore reduced their reliance on cars.

Cllr John Hammon, who is responsible for development services, studied the set of preferred options placed before Wednesday’s meeting and said: “It has been a long hard road but I think we have got to where we want. Hopefully we will see a lot happening in Warwick.”

Cllr Moira-Ann Grainger, who heads corporate and community services, said: “A lot of people will see this plan and think ‘great’ - when is it going to happen? I think we have to be very careful about how, long-term, we manage people’s expectations. This is our vision.”

The preferred options also highlight the fact that at the moment 80 per cent of vehicles entering and leaving the town centre are simply passing through and therefore having a huge impact on air and noise pollution and peak-hour congestion.

The council needs to control and direct this traffic, while designating priority streets for walking as well, boost public transport and identify gaps in present cycling lanes. Additionally they want to find funds to install renewable and low-carbon technologies in all public buildings.

New developers will be asked to construct zero carbon-rated properties or pay larger contributions to renewable and low-carbon schemes. Most of the centre is already a designated conservation area with more than 300 listed properties, like the Market Hall Museum which could revert back to retail use and its collection moved to a new museum quarter centred around St John’s.