Meeting documents

1.1 Radstock town centre sits within the wider Midsomer Norton/Radstock area. It is an area with many positive attributes and great potential as a place to live work and visit. Through the Market and Coastal Towns Initiative the first community plan for the area has been produced - the Brighter Futures Plan. This is a wide ranging plan, significant elements of which require establishment of a framework for future development of the area. Arrangements are therefore to be established for providing strategic co-ordination within the Council's corporate governance systems for Development and Major Projects. Regard will need to be had to the emerging Regional Spatial Strategy and influencing this in the interests of the area.

1.2 Within Radstock town centre a long standing aim is the regeneration of the former railway and associated land. This land is allocated within the draft Local Plan and the Norton Radstock Regeneration Company (NRR) and its development partner Bellway is due to bring forward proposals in the Spring of this year. Radstock town centre is therefore an immediate priority.

2.1 The town centre of Radstock has been the focus of considerable regeneration activity. Improvements and investment over recent years include Radstock Museum, refurbishment of over ten buildings in the centre, a new ICT Learning Centre, Tom Huyton Park, the Memorial Park at Waterloo Road, Norton Radstock Greenway, The Colliers Way and a new school.

2.2 Whilst these improvements provide a good foundation, to build on this investment and underpin the long-term regeneration of the town centre will require continued development of a strategic approach.

2.3 Across the wider Midsomer Norton and Radstock area there are a number of strategic issues:

2.4 Radstock town centre has a role to play in helping to address these issues if it is to be more than a dormitory town to Bath and Bristol.

2.5 The town's former role as the centre of the Somerset Coalfield gave it a clear and distinctive function. Since then, its role has never been properly defined and developed following the closure of the coal mines and loss of associated industrial and railway activity.

2.6 The historic role of the town brought with it major railway and other infrastructure. This has been stripped out leaving a town centre that is severed and which lacks a physical framework to enable it to adapt and respond to change.

2.7 The challenge is to establish a sustainable centre with a clear role within the wider area. To achieve this will require a physical form that enables the town to develop and adapt to meet current and future circumstances.

2.8 The former railway land, which has been a blight on the town for over 30 years and is pivotal to its regeneration, is now in the ownership of a community interest company - NRR. The Company has appointed a development partner and through a development agreement will realise its land value to help achieve local benefit and regeneration. NRR/Bellway are progressing toward submission of a planning application.

2.9 The NRR/Bellway project provides the potential to fundamentally restructure the town and act as a catalyst for regeneration.

2.10 For the town centre there are also big opportunities for the future arising from its place as part of the wider Midsomer Norton & Radstock area:

3.1 The community has developed its own plan for the Midsomer Norton & Radstock area (incl. surrounding parishes) - The Brighter Futures Plan. This sets out a broad community vision for the area and a vision for Radstock Town Centre. The vision for the town centre is:

3.2 To help take this vision forward, address the challenges and realise opportunities a set of regeneration principles is proposed for Radstock town centre to provide a broad context within which a physical regeneration framework can be brought forward. These principles are based on the extensive regeneration work and consultation that has already been undertaken.