A drop-in event will give people the chance to have their say on details about the redevelopment of the Birmingham Road Site area.
Previously earmarked for the failed Friarsgate development, Lichfield District Council now hopes to create a mixed use scheme on the land.
Urban designers Create Streets have been brought in to help with the redevelopment proposals.
They will be seeking views on types of buildings, layouts and the overall masterplan for the site at the Three Spires Shopping Centre this weekend.
David Milner, deputy director at Create Streets, said:
“We are challenging the current convention of community consultation – we believe that the residents who live in Lichfield and know it best should be involved from the outset.
“We are delighted that the Lichfield District Council has asked us to play this role for the design of new homes, apartments, space for businesses and new streets on the Birmingham Road Site.”
David Milner, Create Streets
Create Streets will host the stand at the Wade Street entrance to the Three Spires Shopping Centre between noon and 4pm on Saturday (25th February).
The partnership with the council will see the outcomes of community engagement events used to help shape the design of the development on the site.
A consultation event is also running in the foyer of District Council House at Frog Lane until the end of February.
Again! Is this another ‘tick the box’ consultation?
This is the sixth time they have done a drop in consultation, how many more will they have before something gets done.
Another set of consultants employed,what do the council planners do it seems not a lot
I think we need mock Georgian/Tudor/classical type designs here. Something traditional which compliments the surrounding area. Lots of character and interesting features which will enhance the area. Maybe akin to the proposed Beacon St development by Friel Homes which had so much local support (perhaps they should speak to Friel Homes about this). Anyone who agrees get your views in to Create Streets!
Well, Create Streets will be loving it !!! ££££
I think they should build a bus station on the site. It would be good to have a bus station next to the train station and the shops.
@ David, I do hope you are not suggesting we have houses built on this site, If we are struggling to find a good solution for this site, that costs very little money, then do nothing until we have the money to develop something we really need/want, except get the hoarding down and turf the area some seats and a decent set of Male/Female and disabled toilets for our visitors that come by coach, train, bus and car and of course for ourselves, the residents
This is truly getting tiresome, another token consultation and likely not the last of its kind trying to create a circumstance that will cement the current flawed mixed use proposal. The fact they want to dedicate 61% of the land to housing and to destroy the best possible location for a bus station (opposite the train station, centrally) is evidence enough that this project now needs a new pair of hands and the framing at the get go is out of touch with what Lichfield wants and needs.
Can May hurry up and come around so we can formally vote on what we think of this strategy with an action that matters?
There are hundreds of examples from UK and abroad. Piazza with streets off it, independent businesses on ground floor, affordable accommodation above. Not rocket science.
Not another consultation more money down the drain who are these councillors sleeping idiots waste of money
more money for expensive consultants to tell the incompetents running the council what we told them before
stop wasting our money tories!
What! Another Consultation.
Do drop in and give your Views on what you the Tax Payer would like to see happen to the Birmingham Road ,failed Friars Gate project area. Total waste of money, time, and effort.
LDC have their agenda all ready stamped.
We know our views have not one iota of being utilized.
Just keep the bus station where it is and put this on the empty land next to it. Where else would bus station go
Why don’t they rebuild Tempest Ford the council destroyed and pay for it out of their own pockets after wasting so much money of the vanity project.
Consultation after consultation after survey after survey after consultation. Pullen, just get on with putting retirement flats on the site like we all know you are desperate to do.
This is not just a consultation. It is an LDC consultation. Where we have no chance to change the direction of this scheme.
Doug Pullen and Paul Ray appear to be the only people wanting loads of housing on this site. They have got what they want.
Homes – no thanks
Apartments – no thanks
New streets – no thanks
Space for businesses – a small shop and a takeaway.
“A consultation event is also running in the foyer of District Council House at Frog Lane until the end of February.”
I went to the “consultation event” yesterday. It was an otherwise empty room comprising only a desk, with 2 blocks of post it notes, 2 biros and a map of the area on the wall along with some pictures of bricks. Nobody to consult, just fill in a post it note and stick it on the map. How much are Create Streets charging for this innovative piece of consultation?
I have yet to see the Planning Department taking notice of any input from interested parties. I suppose there must be some statutory requirement making them go through a process.
The councillors will eventually go away. Their legacy of Friasgate will long live after them. I very much doubt there will be blue plaques involved. Sadly there is little local development in recent years that is worthy of praise.
Philip, that’s because money is the only thing that matters. Nobody really cares about leaving any sort of lasting legacy. It’s simply about money in this day and age. That’s it.
Is Create Streets part of, or funded by, the Legatum Institute?
What a shame that we have a council so out of tune with the residents of Lichfield that they cannot make decisions on how the city should look, they have ni imagination whatsoever ever, they’re passing the buck, the leader of the council is as useless as they come
Well I went to Create Streets little room in the council offices at Frog Lane. Not manned (or womened) of course. Site maps on the table for you to fill in your suggestions. All had been used and there were no spares. The means of communication was by post it notes for you to stick on a site plan on the wall. The main wall is given to different types of house designes with Like / Dislike boxes for you to tick. There is a similar display of finishes for your preference.
The main thrust is clearly what housing you want on this site. There was not a box for none at all.
It would be interesting to see a report from Create Streets as to how they came to their final conclusions and whose input they had adopted. If this is genuine public consultation then they should be made to prove it as such.
The Birmingham Road Site is bigger than I thought! Until I went to this event I didn’t know the site includes the multistorey car park and the ground level car park accessed from Frog Lane. Not only is LDC going to build over the perfectly placed bus station, they’re going to build over two car parks which are next to the shops, the theatre, and the old Debenhams store LDC is so pleased is going to have a cinema put in it! None of the proposed plans on display at the event had any car parking on them. Where does LDC think people attending or organising or working in events at The Garrick and people going to the new cinema should park after the over 300 car parking spaces next to them have been destroyed?
There’s a map of the site at https://together-we.co.uk/our-city-centre/ (I know that doesn’t look like it has anything to do with Lichfield, but it is a website by Lichfield District Council who for some reason are using a domain that is so vague it could be anything)
And they claim the site isn’t big enough for a leisure centre? Don’t make me laugh.