Take part in the city centre ambition conversation
Published: 8 June 2022
An artists impression of what St James' Street could look like
As part of the city’s recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and to meet the challenges of the 21st century, Derby City Council has created a new ambition document which outlines ideas for a bold, transformational vision for Derby city centre and now is the time to have your say!
Derby’s city centre conversation began today, Wednesday 8 June on the Let’s Talk Derby website and is a chance for residents and businesses to review emerging ideas and share their feedback.
The conversation is a way for citizens to engage with the new ambition document, that was approved at a Special Cabinet meeting in May.
The vision will focus on longer-term ideas and interventions that will transform the city centre and secure its future as a vibrant place that people can feel proud of and want to visit. It will recognise the challenges facing all city centres, not just Derby, and provide an over-arching ‘direction-of-travel’ that will inform future plans and actions.
The document is broken down into 12 themes that focus on the main issues facing our city centre and the key areas we want to improve or reimagine.
- Climate change
- Culture
- Public realm
- Green and blue infrastructure
- City living
- Accessibility and connectivity
- Heritage
- Design quality
- Learning
- Business and creativity
- Shopping and leisure
- Delivery and coordination
Councillor Steve Hassall, Cabinet Member for Regeneration, Decarbonisation, Strategic Planning and Transport commented:
I’m really excited to get this conversation going and to hear the thoughts and ideas of our residents and businesses. The comments and suggestions will help us craft and create a vision for a city centre that works for everyone and thrives into the future.
Although there are still immediate challenges we face in response to the pandemic, having this conversation shows that we’re committed to investing in the future of our city centre as the heart and soul of Derby.
I would really encourage everyone to get involved and to take time to share their thoughts and ideas with us. They really are key to helping us shape our future plans.
This is the first time a city-wide future regeneration conversation has taken place of this size since the creation of the City Centre Masterplan in 2016. The previous plan brought about exciting developments within the city, including the Becketwell development and Our City, Our River flood defence scheme.
These conversations around the ambition will inform the next stage in the process of developing a new City Centre vision to be published in 2023.
The conversation begins on Wednesday 8 June and will run for 12 weeks over the summer on the Let’s Talk Derby website for residents, businesses and stakeholders to share ideas and feedback.