Masterplan targets 25 per cent expansion of city centre
Birmingham has re-launched its 20-year city centre masterplan - the Big City Plan - and it includes proposals to create an additional 1.5m sq m of business space in the city centre, expanding the city core by 25 per cent and growing the city’s economy by £2.1bn a year. Birmingham City Council’s director of regeneration Waheed Nazir told Insider: “The Big City Plan started in 2007. In 2010, we are taking it on to stage two which is saying ‘the world has moved on, the markets are in a different place and we need to be more focused.”
The revised plan - honing the 2007 masterplan which built on recommendations made by Professor Michael Parkinson - was revealed by Birmingham City Council leader Mike Whitby yesterday.
It will now concentrate its resources on key areas of transformation based around New Street Station, Westside, the Snow Hill District, Eastside and The Southern Gateway.
Whitby said: “We are taking the plan to the next level - where we transform vision into delivery, and create the framework for 50,000 new jobs in Birmingham’s city centre. We are making a bold statement, prioritising the areas and projects which can and will be transformed despite the financial challenges the UK faces.
“Our Big City Plan will provide a clear blueprint for investors, businesses and residents alike - with the detail, the grain and the soul, which I believe will inspire imaginations across the world - and capture billions of extra investment and value for our local economy.”
As well as outlining specific areas where the council will concentrate its resources in the future, stage two of the plan also highlights individual projects, schemes and infrastructure which it plans to develop and defines specialist quarters/areas where particular types of investment and development will be encouraged.
Key objectives of the plan are to deliver significant change in the city centre, supporting sustainable growth, creating new and improved public spaces, giving streets back to pedestrians and enhancing cultural life in the heart of the city.
The masterplan will be supported by statutory planning tools, utilising the core strategy and supplementary planning documents, to enable the change of land use and to assist development activities.
