Lichfield’s MP believes the demise of the Friarsgate scheme should be seen as an opportunity to create a design and project more fitting with the character of the city.
The £55million redevelopment collapsed after funding could not be found in the private sector and a bid to spend £49million of public money was rejected by the controlling Conservative group at Lichfield District Council.
A final decision will be made at a behind closed doors meeting of the full council on June 26, but Cllr Mike Wilcox, leader of the council, and developers U+I have already suggested the deal is dead.
But Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant said the collapse of the scheme after a decade in the making should be seen as a chance to think again.
“I believe that U&I’s inability to find finance for the Friarsgate Project should be taken as an opportunity,” he said. “I have always had some doubts about the overall design of the project which many would say was not in keeping with a beautiful cathedral city like Lichfield.
“I think we should now use this as an opportunity to rethink the whole project. Do we really need new chain restaurants which might endanger the viability of the existing restaurants in the centre of the city? We do need more housing and we certainly need a cinema.
“Perhaps a redesign based on that with brick finishing and gabled roofs to the housing which match the style of the city would be more in keeping and provide more of what Lichfield really needs.”
