Northampton: Will bid for £25m bring life back to the town centre?

Details of a new plan aimed at transforming Northampton town centre have been published. The proposals rely on the success of a £25m bid for government funding, but will they give the town a new lease of life?

The new proposals are the brainchild of Northampton Forward.

Formed in 2018, the group's members include the borough council, shoe manufacturer Tricker's, the Royal & Derngate Theatre and the University of Northampton.

This week, it published its Town Investment Plan.

The plans include turning the empty former Marks & Spencer and BHS units in Abington Street into residential developments, creating a new arts centre, extending the Charles Rennie Mackintosh-inspired 78 Derngate, and completing the much-delayed Four Waterside development.

In order to fund them, Northampton Forward has put in a bid to the government's Towns Fund for about £25m.

It is hoped the money will "unlock" a further £170m in investment, including almost £4m from the borough council and £155m from the private sector.

Northampton Forward says the proposals will create 1,472 jobs, with work completed by summer 2026.

The bid is part of a wider plan for the town centre.

On Tuesday, the group resubmitted plans for an £8.45m revamp of the town's Market Square to the government's Future High Streets Fund.

Northampton Forward has its work cut out, with a string of high-profile stores, including M&S, BHS and Debenhams closing in recent years.

Former Communards keyboard player-turned-vicar, the Reverend Richard Coles, who grew up in Northampton, has summed up many people's feelings when he said Northampton was "decaying".

Martin Mason, managing director of Tricker's and a Northampton Forward Board member, says the redevelopment is much-needed with the coronavirus pandemic making "the last 18 months incredibly hard".

"At the moment as you walk down the streets it is quite depressing," he says.

He adds that the aim is to replace big "dinosaur" stores with independents and that the ultimate plan is "a much more attractive realm and lots of people walking around enjoying themselves".

The chief executive at the Royal & Derngate, Jo Gordon, says in the past the town had "wanted what other towns have" by bringing in big stores, but now it should focus on its cultural and historical offer.

"What we have noticed now is that there is something unique about Northampton," she says.

The aim is to turn the town into an "extraordinary destination" with a "vibrancy that means other people want what Northampton has," she adds.

One area conspicuous by its absence from the plans is the site of the former Greyfriars bus station.

The building was demolished in 2015, but the site still remains empty.

Northampton Borough Council leader Jonathan Nunn says any plans for the area will not be addressed by the Towns Fund money.

"These are kick-start funds," he says.

"Something like Greyfriars is too big a chunk to bite off."

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