Plymouth’s ambitions to provide thousands of homes in the city centre are expected to be given a huge boost, thanks to a new partnership with Homes England.
- Transformational Partnership for Regeneration: Plymouth City Council and Homes England are collaborating to deliver a comprehensive regeneration programme focused on revitalizing the city centre, with plans for thousands of new homes and significant public realm improvements.
- Economic and Environmental Benefits: The initiative aims to create lasting social, economic, and environmental impacts, including job creation, sustainable growth, and vibrant communities, while addressing the city centre’s housing deficit.
- Focus on Collaboration and Investment: Both parties will share expertise, identify funding opportunities, and prioritize infrastructure and development projects to accelerate Plymouth’s transformation into a mixed-use, thriving city centre.
The Government’s Housing and Regeneration Agency is joining forces with the City Council to create a bespoke regeneration partnership to enable the delivery of significant transformational regeneration opportunities.
The agency’s board members were in the city recently to look at the opportunities and challenges Plymouth faces and to discuss future plans with top council officials and politicians.
They toured the city centre, to look at the latest public realm investments in Old Town Street, New George Street and Armada Way as well as key projects such as the Civic Centre.
They also visited Devonport naval base, where a £4.5 billion Government investment is expected over the next 10 years and they heard about Plymouth’s growth agenda, including the Freeport, the growth of marine sciences and offshore wind opportunities and the universities’ ongoing successes.
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The work being undertaken by the council and Homes England recognises the significant opportunity to transform and regenerate Plymouth City Centre, delivering lasting social, economic, and environmental benefits for the community and commits both parties to work collaboratively with a focus on:
• The development of thousands of new homes with a mix of affordable, market and specialist housing
• Revitalising key sites, improving infrastructure and enhancing the public realm
• Promoting sustainable growth and creating vibrant communities
• Supporting local economic development and job creation.
They will also aim to share knowledge, expertise, and resources to support the delivery of the regeneration programme and work together to identify funding and investment opportunities to speed up progress.
Council leader Tudor Evans said:
“This is exciting stuff. Homes England share our vision of changing the city centre and creating more homes within this key part of Plymouth.
“We have made huge inroads and investment in our city centre, which is paying off, with increased interest from business and more footfall.
“We know that Plymouth is being talked about in Whitehall – Plymouth has enormous potential and we are delighted to welcome the board here to see for themselves what makes Plymouth special.
“We have been working with Homes England on our vision for the city centre for a while now and we look forward to this positive relationship continuing.”
The partnership will aim to deliver the transformation of the oversized retail core into a vibrant mixed-use city centre.
Chair of Homes England, Peter Freeman, added:
“It was fantastic to be in Plymouth to see the latest public realm investments first hand and how plans to regenerate Plymouth’s city centre are taking shape. It is clear that the council has recognised the opportunity here to provide much needed new homes and bring more people to the heart of the city.”
Plymouth’s city centre is unusual in that has a significantly lower number of people living there, with only 1,000 homes, compared to an average of 8,000 in other cities of a similar size.
This poses a real challenge to creating a vibrant city centre, increasing footfall, and attracting and retaining skilled professionals for the needs of the wider city.
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