Yesterday I attended an update on planning in Chesterfield. The talk was given by Mike Hayden the Head of Regeneration at Chesterfield Borough Council and was a part of the programme of meetings held by Chesterfield Civic Society. I have to say there are so many amazing and fantastic projects in the pipeline for Chesterfield. These plans aim to put Chesterfield on the map and a destination of choice for tourism and employers.
Below is an outline of a few of the projects and where they stand at the moment.
Chesterfield Waterside (40 acre canal-side site next to the A61)
This area was originally designated for industry and is now a derelict and contaminated brownfields site. This is a major £330 million development project and is actually the 50th largest regeneration project in the UK, by cost (which gives you an idea of the actual scale of the project).
The master-plan includes the development of 1500 Appartments & Homes, 30,000sq m of office space, a new canal basin, shops, restaurants and leisure facilities. The overall aim here is to make the most of the waterside environment and the canal, by opening up a new canal basin and navigational canal way. Also by having homes, working facilities and everything you need in the one area, to encourage a greener way of life.
The outline planning consent was given in March 2010 and hopefully work will start on the site in 2012. This is a really exciting development and artists impressions of how the area will look are just fantastic, you can find more information on this wonderful development here.
Dema Glass Site
This former glassworks has been cleared and made way for the new 10,500 seat football stadium for Chesterfield Football Club. Nearly 600 new jobs were created. This was a relatively short scheme and work was completed in July 2010.
Casa Hotel – Lockoford Lane
This development was on a former car auction site. This was the first 4* hotel built in Chesterfield and has 100 bedrooms and conferencing facilities. It is the new HQ offices for Global Brands. It is an iconic 7 storey building on a gateway site and has generated 350 jobs. This was a £26m investment.
Former Bryan Donkin Site – Derby Road
Originally a factory site and the factory as now been relocated. This was a mixed use scheme including development for a business park, a new fire station, DIY store (B & Q), 500 homes, highway improvements and a new skate park with plans for a green parkway with walkways, cycle tracks through to Queens Park.
This site is actually now in administration and is in the process of looking for someone to take this development over.
Peak Resort – Birchall Estate
The plan here is to create an all-weather tourist resort and eco-friendly leisure facility. Once completed, visitor accommodation will include a 212 bed hotel/apartments, 250 woodland lodges and a 26 bed golf hotel. A world class golf resort and sports injury clinic will be developed. A unique Ecodome will incorporate an indoor climate controlled water sports and other adventure and leisure facilities and will be surrounded by 300 acres of park and woodland. A development like this will certainly put Chesterfield on the map and make us a place to visit for tourists. It could also create up to 3000 new jobs.
Town Centre – Northern Gateway
This scheme is looking at a chance to enhance the Northern side of the Town. Some interesting facts and figures are that Chesterfield actually has a catchment area of 1m potential shoppers, who spend a total of £2.7billion, HOWEVER only 9% is actually spent in Chesterfield. Even in a nearer catchment area to the centre, only 60% of the total spend is spent in Chesterfield. People will and do travel further afield to get more variety. At the moment Chesterfield is very strong on the independents, discounts and multiples so there will be a focus to increase the quality that is on offer.
More publicity will be given about the final plans around Autumn time, however there are plans to ensure a Food store and a department store do locate here. This has not been a stab in the dark as there has been research on what Chesterfield does need and needs to keep up and develop. This time next year there will be a detailed planning application and then search for a development partner.
Market Hall Refurbishment
This is a beautiful Grade II listed building however the 1980s refit is now looking very dated. There are increasing vacancies of stalls and it is nigh on impossible to get new stall holders to take them over.
Proposals include a glazed roof atrium, with new market stalls, new lifts, assembly rooms, offices and a gallery for displaying art etc. Plans are to bring the building to largely 1 level and with the glass atrium to bring in more light and open the space up.
This is a £4.3m project with £1.8m European Regional Development Funding and £300k Townscape Heritage Scheme Funding already secured. Work is due to start October 2011 and estimated for completion for November 2012. It has been acknowledge that there will be disruption over Christmas 2011 however there will be a temporary market hall opened on New Square.
Phew!! So there you go. Has you can see there is so, so much going on and planned for Chesterfield and I am sure you will agree it is a very exciting time to live and work here. I, for one, am extremely excited for the future of Chesterfield.
