Withernsea Renaissance Plan Withernsea and South East Holderness Regeneration Partnership
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN WITHERNSEA AND SOUTH EAST HOLDERNESS REGENERATION PARTNERSHIP AUGUST 2011 WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 CONTACT INFORMATION Prepared by: GVA First Floor City Point 29 King Street Leeds LS1 2HL Telephone: +44 (0)8449 02 03 04 Fax: +44 (0)113 280 8080 In conjunction with: Lathams St Michael’s Queen Street Derby DE1 3SU Telephone: +44 (0)1332 365777 Fax: +44 (0)1332 290314 All rights reserved. No part of this document may be reproduced in any form without the prior written permission from the author. © GVA 2011. This document and the material contained in it is the property of GVA and is given to you on the understanding that such material and the ideas, concepts and proposals expressed in it are the intellectual property of GVA and protected by copyright. It is understood that you may not use this material or any part of it for any reason other than the evaluation of the document unless we have entered into a further agreement for its use. The document is provided to you in confidence, on the understanding it is not disclosed to anyone other than those of your employees who need to evaluate it. WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 CONTENTS .0 Introduction .0 The Vision .0 The Renaissance Plan 4.0 Delivery Plan 5.0 Strategic Fit 6.0 Monitoring and Evaluation 7.0 The Next Steps WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 .0 INTRODUCTION Withernsea, like many traditional seaside towns has suffered economically from changes in holiday taking and the demise of the railways, which started in the 1960s. The town is still a visitor destination, with its award winning beach and caravan parks, but increasingly it is unable to compete with other seaside towns and visitor destinations. The consequence has been a cycle of decline resulting in significant social and economic deprivation, loss of confidence in the future prospects of the town and reduced levels of investment. As well as its role as a seaside town, Withernsea is the largest town and service centre in the Holderness Peninsula. Over the past ten years, when most parts of the East Riding became significantly less affordable, Withernsea’s pool of low cost housing perpetuated a concentration of low income households, with parts of the town consequently falling into the 10% most deprived areas in the Index of Multiple Deprivation 2010 and the remainder falling into the most deprived 20%. In an attempt to arrest the town’s declining economic fortunes Withernsea and South East Holderness Regeneration Partnership, in association with East Riding of Yorkshire Council and other key stakeholders, have developed a strategy to help secure the regeneration of Withernsea and a sustainable economic future for the town. This strategy (The South East Holderness Strategic Regeneration Development Plan) produced by Scott Wilson in January 2011, identifies the town as the main focus for future public sector investment in the area in order to provide the service centre and visitor magnet, which is seen as fundamental in underpinning the long term regeneration of the town. In response to this strategy Withernsea Town Council prepared the Town Plan, which identifies / sets out a series of actions and priorities identified by the people of Withernsea. Part of the reason why Withernsea’s economic potential is not being fully realised is a lack of visual identity and sense of place. In response both the Scott Wilson Strategy and Town Plan identify that there is an urgent need to improve the range and quality of visitor and resident facilities in the town centre and seafront areas and to achieve a higher quality of public realm. In response to both documents and through actions implemented by the Partnership the town has benefited from a range of regeneration priorities / initiatives, which have been developed into a series of projects, focussed on the town centre and seafront areas. These include plans to: • Upgrade Queen Street (Withernsea’s main shopping street) to improve pedestrian conditions and the vitality of the street; • Develop a new fishing compound and associated boat slipway on the southern promenade; • Develop a multi-use cultural and enterprise centre [the Meridian Centre] to provide performance and community space, together with cafe and business units; and • Improve the attractiveness of the seafront area through a comprehensive set of environmental improvements. In addition, work has commenced on a Housing Renewal Assessment, which focuses on the town’s older, privately owned, housing stock, establishing ways of improving it and encouraging investment. 4 WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 Fig 1. Aerial photograph of Withernsea WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 5 Fig 2. Withernsea’s seafront and promenade Fig 3. Looking south along Queen Street 6 WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 Purpose of the Document The brief requires the Plan to establish a 10 to 15 year vision for the town that not only raises aspirations but also develops existing and newly identified projects into a spatial plan that delivers the vision. The Plan draws all of these strands together into a co-ordinated Renaissance Plan for the town including an investment development strategy for key locations focused on the seafront area of Withernsea, and Queen Street (Fig 2 and 3) and linking to planned investment in the wider Holderness area. This Renaissance Plan sets a clear direction for the future development of Withernsea based on delivering a high quality urban environment that will encourage private sector investment, whilst being flexible enough to accommodate potential changes in private and public funding and the wider economy. The Plan will be used to influence public and private sector investment decisions, highlighting key development initiatives within the town and surrounding Holderness area. It has been prepared in consultation with the local community, elected members, the Town Council and other stakeholders with an interest in the town’s future. The Plan is a long term plan to 2020 and beyond. It focuses on the physical aspects of development, building upon all the positive assets of the town to support a sustainable community and to attract inward investment. It adds value to the previous work by: • Creating synergy between individual projects; • Providing a clear priority for action, based on realistic funding assumptions; and • Identifying new opportunities for development which will renew confidence in the future of the town. The first part of this document establishes the vision for the future direction of the town and a set of objectives for Withernsea. The second part sets out the Renaissance Plan for the town’s development and growth, drawing together the collection of individual but inter related development projects, all of which are supported by a delivery plan to guide implementation. The Renaissance Plan itself is not a statutory planning document but has been developed, tested and consulted upon in such a way that it can be used as evidence of the community’s renaissance aspirations, informing East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s [ERYC] emerging Local Development Framework [LDF]. The LDF will replace the existing Holderness District Wide Local Plan (1996) and the Kingston Upon Hull and the East Riding of Yorkshire Joint Structure Plan (2005) guiding development up to 2026. Projects in this Renaissance Plan focus on this mid term plan period but the vision reflects longer term prospects. WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 7 .0 THE VISION Defining Withernsea Withernsea is a traditional seaside town approximately 19 miles [30km] east of Hull (Fig 6). The town grew following the opening of the railway line in 1854 which linked it with Hull. The role and function of Withernsea is dominated by its location. As a coastal town, with a high quality award winning beach, it is influenced by the tourist industry (Fig 7), which is reflected in the seafront promenade (Fig 4 and 8), amusement arcades (Fig 5) and general retail/service premises on Queen Street. Outside of the town centre, the settlement consists predominantly of residential community uses and the caravan parks to the north and south; the majority of the caravans are in private ownership. Like many traditional seaside towns, Withernsea has suffered economically from changes in the holiday market and the demise of the railways, which started in the 1960s and culminated in the railway line from Hull being closed. As a result, it is increasingly unable to compete with other seaside towns and visitor destinations. However, despite ailing fortunes the Town still draws in visitors and has a considerable commuting role; people choose to locate here in search of an improved quality of life. As well as its role as a seaside town, Withernsea is the largest town in the Holderness Peninsula providing a valuable offer in terms of local services such as schools and the Withernsea Hositpal. Withernsea and the wider South East Holderness area suffer from a relatively poor economic performance and a number of social and environmental problems related to its peripheral location. The challenge remains to find new ways to boost the local economy and maximise assets by encouraging new forms of employment. The consequence has been a cycle of decline resulting in significant social and economic deprivation, loss of confidence in the future prospects of the town and reduced levels of investment. Fig 4. Withernsea’s award winning beach and seafront promenade Fig 5. Amusement arcades on Memorial Avenue WITHERNSEA RENAISSANCE PLAN - AUGUST 2011 A169 Scarborough Not to Scale Pickering A170 A64 A165 Filey A1039 A64 A165 Malton Bridlington A614 A166 Driffield North Sea A165 A614 eters kilom /24 les mi A164 15 Hornsea ilometers /16 k A1079 les A614 mi Beverley 10 A165 A1174 es/8 kilom mil ete A164 5 rs M62 Hull A63 Withernsea A1033 R iv e r H u m b Barton-upon-Humber A1077 e r A1077 A15 Immingham A180 Scunthorpe M181 A18 A1173 Spurn Head A18 Grimsby M180 A1084 Cleethorpes A46 A159 A15 A16 A1031 Fig 6.