Multimillion-pound plans for town centre transformation revealed

Plans to transform Tamworth town centre, described as a ‘once in a generation opportunity’, have been revealed.

Tamworth is starting 2021 with the news that it has been awarded £21.65m from the Future High Streets Fund.

The proposals include:

RelocatingTamworth College, part of South Staffordshire College, into the heart of the town centre
Development of new affordable and flexible space for smaller, independent hospitality, leisure and retail businesses
Restoration of heritage features and buildings so they can be brought back into use
An improved entrance between the town centre and the Castle Grounds
More affordable office space
Improvements to Middle Entry
The transformation of St Editha’s Square into a multi-purpose events space.

Key to the transformation is the ambition to bring Tamworth College into the heart of the town centre. The proposal is for a college building to be built on the site of the 1960s part of the Tamworth Co-operative Society building in St Editha’s Square.

The locally-listed part of the department store, fronting onto Colehill, would be protected and turned into new affordable office space to build on the success of Tamworth Enterprise Centre.

A large part of the bid involves enhancing the town’s historical treasures and improving the links between them. The proposal is to demolish the building currently occupied by Nationwide and to create a new entrance to the Castle Grounds in place of the current narrow wooden bridge.

Tamworth Borough Council is also working with the owners of Middle Entry to explore opportunities for improving the site to tie in with the new St Editha’s Square and Castle Gateway. Options being looked at include opening the area up, for example by removing the roof, and the potential provision of affordable and flexible space for new retail and leisure businesses.

Cllr Jeremy Oates, Tamworth Borough Council’s Cabinet member for Growth and Regeneration, said: “These are ambitious plans that have been put forward for our bid to the Future High Streets Fund. We know the high street has to change and adapt, and if it all goes to plan, this project (together with the redevelopment of the Gungate precinct) will deliver on many of the themes Tamworth people told us were most important to them.

“It’s said ‘build it and they will come’, and this is really the desire as the council has no control over which individual businesses or retailers come to the town – that’s determined by the public via their spending profile – but we will do everything we can to create the best conditions for new businesses and entrepreneurs.

“The bid therefore includes plans for more flexible and affordable space throughout the town centre for offices and retail/leisure/hospitality businesses, which we hope would encourage the niche, independent businesses that everyone wants to see.

“We hope this plan will go a long way to transforming Tamworth town centre. Having the college at its heart would bring hundreds of people to the town centre, day and night, regardless of market forces.”

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