Plymouth council leaders green light landmark city plans

A meeting of Plymouth City Council's cabinet on Tuesday (3 September) has seen the approval of a number of landmark development projects which will bring a high profile transformation of 'Britain's Ocean City' over the next few years.

The cabinet gave the green light for free wi-fi for the city centre and waterfront areas, a critical land deal in the £50m redevelopment of Home Park, a new four star city centre hotel and arts centre, and a major new heritage visitor attraction. The large-scale, headline-grabbing projects will provide a potentially significant boost for Plymouth's jobs and economy.

The Council's approvals arrive alongside the separate announcement of a deal to create a new 60-bedroom boutique hotel development in Royal WIlliam Yard. The team behind the Watergate Bay Hotel in Cornwall plan to transform the Yard's Melville building, the latest stage in the site's regeneration.

So as the eyes of the nation start to turn enviously towards Britain's Ocean City, what's in store for Plymouth?

Free wi-fi

Private companies will be invited to bid to provide a free wi-fi service for the city centre and waterfront following the cabinet approval.

Details of how, where and for how long people will be able to use the wi-fi network will be finalised in the coming months, but it is expected that the network will be available to anyone following a simple one-off log in.

Once logged on, people will be taken automatically to a landing page which will provide search facilities and links to key useful sites for visitors, citizens and businesses.

Council Leader Tudor Evans said: “We’re very excited about this idea as it will be a great communication tool for everyone. It has enormous potential to give people instant access to the information they want – whether they are a visitor or a local.”

“We know this is what many people want and are beginning to expect. Visitors will arrive in the city, click onto the page and see what’s on and where to go.

“If we want to increase the number of tourists coming here, we need to be more savvy. We can also keep our residents more in the loop with what we are doing. Those most in need, without internet access will now have at least a basic level of access to the internet revolution.”

Home Park redevelopment

Council leaders have also approved a land deal crucial to the viability of Plymouth Argyle owners' the Akkeron Group's £50m redevelopment of Home Park.

The cabinet agreed to transfer land next to Home Park to Akkeron and hopes the redevelopment, which includes a new grandstand, ten-screen cinema, ice rink and hotel, will create 400 new jobs and a 600-job boost for the local building sector.

Work could start in September and may be completed in 2015, according to the club.

New city centre hotel and arts centre

Plymouth’s Civic Centre is now set to be transformed into a four-star hotel with commanding views of the city and its stunning waterfront as part of an exciting development that will create hundreds of jobs.

Tired offices will be turned into a prestige hotel which will form the anchor development in a project that will seal the West End of Plymouth’s role as a cultural quarter of the city.

The 160-bedroom hotel, with a roof-top restaurant, gymnasium and new restaurants along Royal Parade will overlook a newly-created square and at the rear of the building, a new arts centre. There will also be luxury residential apartments.

It is estimated the redevelopment could create 450 construction jobs as well as a further 360 permanent jobs in the leisure and tourism, food and drinks and cultural aspects of the scheme.

Cabinet Member for Finance, Councillor Mark Lowry said: “We’re really excited as this is a new chapter for this landmark building. For a number of years the city has faced the question of what to do with the Civic. We could not wish for a better answer. It’s an outstanding prospect that reflects everything we are trying to achieve.

“It will create hundreds of construction jobs, 360 permanent jobs as well as a new arts centre which will be more accessible, easy to find and better serve the people of Plymouth.”

Council leader Tudor Evans added: “It’s fantastic to get this far and to see a really brilliant project that will utterly change both the city centre and the city as a destination and create hundreds of jobs.

“There’s no doubt there’s a huge amount of work to do – not just for the developer, who will have to go through the formal planning process – but for our staff who will be moving.

“But it’s exciting, it’s a challenge. The way we serve the people of Plymouth is changing all the time and questions about where we work will allow us to shape how we work.”

New visit attraction

An investment in a major visitor attraction that will proudly bring to life the city’s rich history and tell the stories of some of the city’s legends and heroes.

Plans were approved by the cabinet for an exciting historic and cultural centre that breathes life into Plymouth’s most influential historic figures such as Scott, Darwin and Drake, and tells some of the city’s most fascinating and intriguing stories.

Plymouth City Council hopes to attract more visitors, create local jobs and boost the city’s economy, as well as providing more opportunities for residents to discover the city they live in by developing a ‘not to be missed’ attraction that will open by January 2018.

The ambitious plans will transform the existing Museum on North Hill into a cutting-edge, interactive centre, three times its existing size in a project that will need a £21 million investment. These plans improve and add to previous proposals for a History Centre’.

The Council plans to bid for up to £13 million from the Heritage Lottery’s national programme, plus smaller bids to other funding bodies. Plymouth City Council will provide a financial commitment of £3.5 million from the Council’s Investment Fund.

Leader of the Council, Councillor Tudor Evans, said: “It’s time to think big. If we want to compete for national and international tourism we must have attractions that people want to visit! When we launched Plymouth as Britain’s Ocean City, we meant it. This is one of the major pieces of work that will ensure we live up to our new title.”

“This new attraction will transform the way people discover the city's history and culture using the very latest in audio and visual technology. The £21 million project will see the Museum turned on its head. It will be exciting, interesting and will attract visitors in its own right.”

Deputy Leader, Councillor Peter Smith, said: “The basic concept is to bring together the city's historic objects and archives with films from the South West Film and Television Archive and the photographs from the South West Image Bank to tell the amazing and unique stories that are currently hidden!

“We’ll tell the story of Scott, Darwin, the Mayflower, Drake, the Naval dockyard, the Beatles on the Hoe, the blitz, the Cattedown bones and of pirates. We want to create a unique visitor attraction that will blow people away by its innovation and imagination. We want people to discover their own history and journey using technology and we also want to trailblaze using the latest technology and collect the history of the future!”