News: Further improvements planned for public realm in Rotherham town centre
Further phases of improvements in key areas of Rotherham town centre have been detailed and are set to go ahead despite delays and rising costs.
The 2017 Rotherham Town Centre Masterplan highlighted the critical importance of public realm enhancements to help encourage and improve movement and connectivity, particularly between Forge Island and the wider town centre, and to improve the physical environment and experience within the town centre.
Work on key streets has been completed - College Street, Bridgegate, Frederick Street and Howard Street, with work recently getting underway at Riverside Gardens on a delayed £7.8m scheme that also includes work on Upper Millgate and Corporation Street.
With an original completeion date for all of the works at February 2024, Rotherham Council's cabinet has this month approved the budget for the next area of improvement - Effingham Street.
At the same time, plans have been submitted for details of the landscaping around the new £40.89m markets and library development.
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The proposed designs for the Effingham Street public realm work cover a section running from Hastings Clock to the old Boots building, which has been earmarked for a new town centre health hub, and a lower section running from Market Square to the Camelia sculpture in All Saints' Square.
Work is set to include replacing and upgrading "old and tired" surface materials, improvements and upgrades to lighting to help improve safety and CCTV functionality, feature lighting, and the upgrading of street furniture.
The work will also impact market traders, currently operating on the street due to the revamp of the markets.
A council cabinet paper explains: "The outdoor covered market traders are currently displaced onto Effingham Street due to works to the Outdoor Covered Market (OCM), and they will be required to move again to allow works to take place on Effingham Street.
"Upon completion of the OCM, the existing indoor traders will have first priority to move into this new space temporarily whilst the Indoor Covered Market (ICM) works are taking place. It is expected that once this decant has taken place there will be some remaining space for displaced outdoor traders to return to the OCM. The need for additional space will be determined through engagement with traders, seasonal requirements and reviews of stall take up following reopening of the OCM. Should there be sufficient demand for on street trading, Frederick Street will be proposed as the preferred solution."
Works on Effingham Street will also provide new power supplies for market stalls and events, with an improved layout of market stalls set to provide
additional space for traders and space to expand the offer to other street markets including continental food markets.
£6.9m was originally budgeted for the earlier phases but there has been cost increases as a result of the delivery of the Howard Street project. £343,992 has been reported for Effingham Street in the council's Capital Programme with the council's cabinet agreeing to reallocate funding from the authority's Town Centre Investment Fund (TCIF).
With Henry Boot Construction well underway on the new markets and library, an illustrative landscape masterplan has been updated for the streets around the development site.
Plans shows a significant stepped area between the new markets and the college buildings on Eastwood Lane, improvements to the Market Square area where Effingham Street meets Howard Street - including an area designed to lead to the entrance to the indoor market, and work on Drummond Street which will be where the entrance to the new library will be.
The markets project is due to complete in 2027.
Images: Google Maps / RMBC
The 2017 Rotherham Town Centre Masterplan highlighted the critical importance of public realm enhancements to help encourage and improve movement and connectivity, particularly between Forge Island and the wider town centre, and to improve the physical environment and experience within the town centre.
Work on key streets has been completed - College Street, Bridgegate, Frederick Street and Howard Street, with work recently getting underway at Riverside Gardens on a delayed £7.8m scheme that also includes work on Upper Millgate and Corporation Street.
With an original completeion date for all of the works at February 2024, Rotherham Council's cabinet has this month approved the budget for the next area of improvement - Effingham Street.
At the same time, plans have been submitted for details of the landscaping around the new £40.89m markets and library development.
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The proposed designs for the Effingham Street public realm work cover a section running from Hastings Clock to the old Boots building, which has been earmarked for a new town centre health hub, and a lower section running from Market Square to the Camelia sculpture in All Saints' Square.
Work is set to include replacing and upgrading "old and tired" surface materials, improvements and upgrades to lighting to help improve safety and CCTV functionality, feature lighting, and the upgrading of street furniture.
The work will also impact market traders, currently operating on the street due to the revamp of the markets.
A council cabinet paper explains: "The outdoor covered market traders are currently displaced onto Effingham Street due to works to the Outdoor Covered Market (OCM), and they will be required to move again to allow works to take place on Effingham Street.
"Upon completion of the OCM, the existing indoor traders will have first priority to move into this new space temporarily whilst the Indoor Covered Market (ICM) works are taking place. It is expected that once this decant has taken place there will be some remaining space for displaced outdoor traders to return to the OCM. The need for additional space will be determined through engagement with traders, seasonal requirements and reviews of stall take up following reopening of the OCM. Should there be sufficient demand for on street trading, Frederick Street will be proposed as the preferred solution."
£6.9m was originally budgeted for the earlier phases but there has been cost increases as a result of the delivery of the Howard Street project. £343,992 has been reported for Effingham Street in the council's Capital Programme with the council's cabinet agreeing to reallocate funding from the authority's Town Centre Investment Fund (TCIF).
With Henry Boot Construction well underway on the new markets and library, an illustrative landscape masterplan has been updated for the streets around the development site.
Plans shows a significant stepped area between the new markets and the college buildings on Eastwood Lane, improvements to the Market Square area where Effingham Street meets Howard Street - including an area designed to lead to the entrance to the indoor market, and work on Drummond Street which will be where the entrance to the new library will be.
The markets project is due to complete in 2027.
Images: Google Maps / RMBC
1 comments:
If the High St pocket park is anything to go by, I expect this new project will probably near completion at some time around 2040!
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