Derby City Council Archives - Page 2 of 2

Derby City Centre – Assembling the options

30th November 20222nd September 2020 by Gary Stringer

The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed the weakness of Derby City centre. As a second order centre it does not attract out of town shoppers or tourists as a centre for retail spending because the offer is not top end, it cannot compete with nearby Nottingham or on-line shopping and out of town retailing. Whilst Derby district centres thrive, its town centre fails. The loss of office jobs to Pride Park, the closure of retails chains and the banks and businesses such as solicitors relocating to Pride Park has left large parts of city centre buildings empty.

Intu has also crashed and has gone bust. The centre remains open with the support of Intu creditors but it now has many empty units and key anchor tenants including Debenhams remain only by the grace of their creditors. Indoor events venues including the cinema and bowling/golf are not viable at the moment because of Covid-19.

Derby City Centre needs to be regenerated. This needs to be a combination of small scale organic refurbishment with small scale specialist shopping together with larger schemes. Radical changes are needed to the financial structure of the city centre. This means a radical change to rent and rates and we need to value the city centre and see it’s potential. There is more long term investment in buildings and structure in the city centre than anywhere else in Derby. To let the city centre continue to deteriorate is to throw away 300 years of investment for short term values and entrenched interests who do not value Derby or its people.

To bring the city back to life absent landlords need to re-think their expectations and their approach to city centre buildings. For too long absent landlords (often Pension funds) have used commercial buildings as part of their portfolios. Their value is based on their financial return and past rents are now unrealistic and this is creating high vacancy rates. To lower vacancy rates it will need a major revaluation and a significant drop in rents. By lowering rental values drastically; rents become affordable to a wider range of operators and small businesses.

Secondly Derby City Centre should re-think its enterprise zones. No longer should Infinity Park be the locus for a rates free environment, it should move to the city centre. It is unfortunate but Infinity Park has failed. Business does not want to locate there. The city’s priority should change and the city council should use the Enterprise Zone in a more effective and creative way by moving it to the city centre. A low rent, rates free city centre would re-invigorate the heart of the city.

Landlords would look at the whole of their buildings not just their ground floors. Schemes to house people, to refurbish upper floors would become viable and necessary, as each part of a building would make its contribution, not just the value of the ground floor operation. It would allow a wide range of tenants to take over premises, including small specialist businesses, housing associations and residential tenant groups. It would create greater diversity and variety. It would also help promote the arts and create spaces of artists and studios.

The city should also look at all its buildings including the Assembly Rooms. Are the ceilings really going to fall in? Could the building not be re-used by a wide variety of small businesses and even as accommodation? Why knock down a serviceable building? The decision to knock the building down seems to be based on not being able to keep it as the Assembly Rooms, but what else could it be used for? Other options do not seem to have been explored and if it is knocked down, how long will the scar remain to disfigure Market Square. Look at Becketwell, it has been an eyesore for over 30 years and the damage it has done to the image of the City Centre has been significant. To do the same in Market Square would be horrifying.

With climate change we need to use the buildings we have, not knock them down. Build a new entertainment venue in Becketwell by all means, but save and re-use the rest of the city centre, re-pave Market Place and with a re-purposed Assembly Rooms create a radical and exciting future for Derby.

Jonathan Jenkin, BA(Hons) BTP MTRPI, Managing Director, Planning & Design Practice Ltd

Backing Becketwell

16th May 202230th October 2019 by Gary Stringer

At Planning & Design we are pleased to see our peers amongst the business community, together with stakeholders such as Marketing Derby, providing their support to the redevelopment plans for the Becketwell area, a site which has been crying out for revitalisation for a long time, having been earmarked for development in the Local Plan since 2006.

This recently submitted planning application for a £200m mixed use development covering the former Debenhams store, Pennine Hotel, NCP Car Park and Laurie House at Becketwell is the culmination of many years of hard work and the council should be congratulated for its work in acquiring over 200,000 square feet of land in various different ownerships to make this whole project possible.

Phase one of the ambitious regeneration scheme comprises plans for 342 Build to Rent apartments and a new public square on the site of the current United Reform Church, bringing new professionals and footfall to the city centre.

The residential development will comprise of two buildings, the tallest of which will extend up to 19 storeys in height. This building will contain 246 apartments above a ground floor café and restaurant that overlooks the new square. The smaller building will house 96 apartments with a convenience store at ground floor fronting Victoria Street.

The outline planning application is supported by a request to include a range of other complementary uses of the site, including up to 25,000m2 of new grade A offices, innovation centre and leisure to complement the apartments and a planned multi-storey car park, with a smaller courtyard public square called Summerhill Yard that reflects that part of the site’s historic street name.

“The problems of the high street are well documented and Derby will only thrive as a city if more people can be attracted to live and work in the city centre. The Plans for the redevelopment of the Becketwell area of the city centre will allow well designed modern buildings to sit alongside some of our fine old buildings, champion good architecture and will help Derby compete with other cities, both within the UK and around the world,” said Richard Pigott, Director of Planning & Design.

“It is also worth recognising the benefits that the development will bring to the wider area. Surrounding historic streets like Victoria Street and Macklin Street, which have fine old buildings in need of investment, will also benefit. I would encourage anyone with an interest in the scheme to view the application documents on the council’s website and register your views.” The planning application reference number is 19/01245/OUT and a decision is due by 21st November 2019.

The scheme includes £8.1 million in Local Growth Fund investment from the D2N2 Local Enterprise Partnership and received 89% support in a recent public consultation, demonstrating the public’s appetite to transform this derelict area which has stood as a symbol of neglect for decades.

Planning & Design have worked on numerous commercial projects which have involved changing the existing use of buildings located within the city centre. The long-term vitality of town centres is an important planning concern and diversifying the uses of retail and leisure units can make significant contributions to the street scene and the local economy. For more information or to discuss your development proposals please get in touch.

Over half of the UK’s principal local authorities have declared a climate emergency

4th September 2019 by Gary Stringer

More than half of the UK’s principal local authorities have now declared a climate emergency, making it one of the fastest growing environmental movements in recent history, according to data compiled by Climate Emergency UK. In the past eight months, 205 of the UK’s 408 Principal Authorities (County, Unitary, Metropolitan, London Boroughs, District), with widespread support across political groups, have declared a climate emergency, committing them to take urgent action to reduce their carbon emissions at a local level. Many have set 2030 as a target date for going carbon zero, 20 years ahead of central government’s 2050 target.

The declarations are spread geographically across the UK. England leads the declarations with 54% percentage declaring. Wales comes next with 41%, then Scotland with 31% and Northern Ireland with 18%.

Cllr. Kevin Frea, co-chair of the Climate Emergency Network and deputy leader of Lancaster City Council, said: “This movement is being led by every political group and is involving local people in planning the actions needed to cut carbon through working groups and citizens assemblies. It has re-engaged people in their local councils: public galleries have been packed when motions to declare are discussed, with many residents – including experts and young people – speaking in the debates.

“Councils have already started delivering on their declarations, switching to renewable energy suppliers on their estate, insulating existing homes and building more energy efficient new ones, planting trees and decarbonising transport.

“Combined with a recent poll showing that climate change has overtaken Brexit as the public’s top concern, it gives me hope that the Government will have to take notice soon and provide the legislation and resources that we need to put our climate emergency declarations fully into practice. We have written to the new BEIS Secretary of State, Andrea Leadsom, and the new Local Government SoS, Robert Jenrick, asking for an urgent meeting to address our concerns.”

It will be very interesting to see what impact this has at a local level where a number of local authorities including Amber Valley Borough Council, Cheshire East Council, Derby City Council, Derbyshire Dales District Council, North East Derbyshire District Council and Sheffield City Council are all amongst those to join the movement. According to the Town and Country Planning Association, the revised National Planning Policy Framework published in 2018 contains four headline implications for planning for climate change, which are as follows:

The revised NPPF retains the key link between planning policy and the provisions of the Climate Change Act 2008. This means all local plans must set a carbon dioxide emissions reduction target and lay out clear ways of measuring progress on carbon dioxide emissions reduction
Guidance for viability testing has been rebalanced, creating more opportunity for policy that might address climate change
There is still real confusion about the scope of planning authorities to set ambitious targets beyond the Building Regulations on energy efficiency
There is nothing to stop local plans adopting requirements for on-site renewable energy generation

Will there be a return to widespread support for onshore wind? Will it be commonplace that the conversion of traditional or listed buildings includes an element of renewable energy? Or will more modern and more energy efficient materials be allowed in ‘sensitive’ locations? These are just some of the questions which spring to mind at a local level. Watch this space.

Richard Pigott, Director, Planning & Design

Normanton Road Shopping – Food for Thought

19th August 20197th August 2019 by Gary Stringer

Normanton Road is part of the district shopping centre of Normanton and Peartree. It represents the second largest concentration of shops in Derby.

Normanton is an active and vibrant centre that caters for residents from very varied backgrounds; creating demand for specialist foods.

Mr. Rasoul runs an Eastern European foods delicatessen adjacent to the site. It is successful.

The Site is a former petrol station which is used as a temporary hand car wash. Mr. Rasoul’s aim is to build a larger shop on the site, clear away the petrol station and construct a single storey building. The site is surrounded by retail premises and there is a public car park across the road.

This is an ideal place for a retail unit but with no on-site parking or servicing, the highway team at Derby City Council were concerned that a single 1,000sq.m unit could generate significant traffic and lead to congestion from delivery vehicles, as well as customers. Normanton serves a local population and for most customers the delicatessen is one of a number of linked trips.

We commissioned a highway report which identified that most trips were indeed linked and that most customers came by foot or by bus/ taxi. The car park nearby is empty for most of the time, and few customers arrive by car. Servicing was similar to many other shops (some much larger) and did not present a problem in highway terms.

Permission was granted under delegated powers. The application raised a number of issues around sustainable transport development. Town and District centre shops should not have their own car parks; higher tier shopping centres in towns and in areas like Normanton need shared facilities and good access to public transport to promote walking and cycling but also to build community understanding and cohesiveness. The private car takes up a large amount of space; it fractures communities because people do not have to meet or speak to each other, and it creates pollution. The future city is one without cars but for many transport officers they are wedded to the car and will take time to change. Climate change concerns are creating more pressure for change and as retailing habits alter out of town retailing divorced from communities may become an anachronism of late twentieth century living.

Image: Thanks to Woore Watkins Ltd

Car Park approval in Derby’s North Riverside

19th August 20193rd July 2019 by Gary Stringer

Planning & Design Practice have secured planning permission for a Coach and Car Park in the North Riverside area of the city of Derby. The new coach parking provides a facility for visitors to the city to enjoy the thriving cultural scene in Derby, with organised coach trips to theatre visits and other events. As part of the development a welfare/facilities building will be provided on the site for coach drivers, creating a more attractive and convenient offering at this cathedral quarter location. In proposing these much needed facilities for the city, the application had support from Derby City Council’s Tourism, Leisure and Culture department.

Spaces for 150 cars are shown on the plans, along with Bicycle racks and 8 Electric Vehicle charging points to meet the growing level of electric vehicle ownership and encourage the use of more sustainable modes of transport. Trees on the perimeter of the site will be unaffected by the proposals, and pedestrian access points are provided on key desire lines for leaving the site on foot.

In proving the acceptability of the proposed car park, we worked closely with Bancroft Consulting to undertake traffic surveys at key road junctions in order to produce evidence that the car park use will not have any significant impact on highway safety. Swept path analysis was also required to demonstrate that large vehicles such as coaches could safely enter, turn, and leave the site.

A flood risk assessment also had to submitted to support the application, taking into account the City’s longer term plans for “Our City, Our River” and changes to flood defence strategies for the north riverside area.

The car park development will provide city centre parking largely on a permit holder basis for workers at several nearby city centre offices, but also with spare capacity for visitors. A Car Park attendant’s booth is proposed at one end of the facilities building near to the entrance.

Planning and Design Practice made several alterations to the initial proposals to overcome technical problems as they arose, eventually achieving the desired approval for our client.

Derby City Centre – Assembling the options

Backing Becketwell

Over half of the UK’s principal local authorities have declared a climate emergency

Normanton Road Shopping – Food for Thought

Car Park approval in Derby’s North Riverside

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