Housing should be considered for land earmarked for Friarsgate, according to a Lichfield Lib Dem councillor – but he insisted it shouldn’t be purely for high earners and retired people.
A working group has been set up to explore options for the redevelopment land in the city centre after the long-awaiting scheme collapsed earlier this year after a decade in the planning, leaving taxpayers facing a £7million bill.
What happens next to the site has already seen Labour and the controlling Conservative group clash over how the decision will be made.
But Cllr Paul Ray, Liberal Democrat councillor for Chadsmead, believes a fresh approach to using the land is needed.
“Our vision has been well received from the consultations we have had with the local community,” he said.
“The Lib Dem vision includes working with housing associations to provide family-centric housing as a key part of the development, thereby infusing new life and energy into the centre of the city.
“We must not just allow the housing on this site to be more housing mainly for the retired and high-end earners.”
“A ticking bomb”
The Lib Dems have also called for other elements not included in the initial Friarsgate plans to be considered.
“We propose that a leisure centre complex near the transportation hubs would benefit all of the Lichfield district,” he said.
“A ticking bomb in Lichfield is what’s going to happen to the Friary Leisure Centre. This will need a full refurb soon, so we should explore the opportunity of using the new Friarsgate scheme to improve the leisure centre facilities in Lichfield – we’d propose a gym and pool being built on the site.
“We are living in times when the importance of healthy living and an active lifestyle are rightly being heavily promoted. So a new publicly-funded leisure facility right in the centre of Lichfield would be a really positive message to the community and would make these facilities very accessible.”
Leisure facilities
The collapse of Friarsgate also means the city will not get a multi-screen cinema facility that had been proposed since the early days of the scheme more than ten years ago.
And Cllr Ray wants any replacement development to consider what residents need.
“We certainly need an improved and wider range of leisure facilities in the district,” he said. “A cinema was part of the original plans and we strongly supported that element.
“Also, with the Neighbourhood Plan promoting Lichfield as a City of Festivals, we can expect more visitors as the number of these events increases. What better place than Friarsgate, where visitors coming by train, bus or coach first catch sight of the city, to place a museum, tourist centre, or other heritage project, which might easily be funded by the National Lottery or similar?”
