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Consultation on proposals for the Future of Matchborough and Winyates district centres

***The deadline for this, which was extended to September 30, has now passed. Thank you for your interest. This page will remain published for a while and then be archived.***

We want your views on concept proposals that have been prepared for the future redevelopment of the Matchborough and Winyates district centres.

There is a feedback form for your comments at the bottom of this page. Please complete it, because we need your views. Thank you if you came to our public consultation events in August, which have now finished.

While these are concepts and not firm plans, the council intends to redevelop the centres along these lines, and so the purpose of this consultation is to gather YOUR views, to inform future bids for the funding that we would need to deliver these kinds of improvements.

Contents

The district centres

Winyates and Matchborough district centres are about 800m apart along Winyates Way and Matchborough Way, located 3.2 km from Redditch centre.

Overview V2 01W

Winyates

Winyates District Centre currently provides facilities to serve the local community including a GP surgery, pharmacist, convenience store, takeaways, shops, community uses, and craft centre.

Matchborough

Matchborough District Centre currently provides a convenience store, dentists, takeaways, pub, and boxing club. The Arrow Vale Academy is located nearby.

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You told us: previous public consultation on redevelopment

There have been two previous rounds of consultation on proposed redevelopments:

  • Planning for Real (2016). Ten sessions were held over three weeks, to get local people to identify issues, solutions, and aspirations for the area.
  • Consultation Workshop (2020). A workshop with council officers and local stakeholders was held to explore the issues and opportunities facing both district centres.

The following key issues were highlighted in the 2016 consultation.

  • Headline issues:
    • Local Environment 23%
    • Crime and Safety 21%
    • Leisure 17%
    • Community Facilities 11%
    • Traffic and Transport 11%
    • Health 9%
    • Housing 5%
    • Work, training, Education 3%
  • Local Environment overall key Issues:
    • Street lights to be provided 31%
    • Litter bins needed 20%
    • Pond to be improved 19%
    • Dog mess problem 17%
    • Tree to be removed 15%
    • Dog walking area 14%
    • Nature trail 14%
    • Dog poop bins needed 13%
    • Nature reserve 13%

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Matchborough District Centre proposals

Create a community focus for all ages:

  • District Centre uses consolidated into new single storey building in central location
  • Uses and activities are proposed which enhance a sense of community and offer something for all residents, including multi- use spaces and play space
  • 2 storey apartment building to south of District Centre
  • Create high quality public space around the new District Centre building

Enhance the environment and biodiversity:

  • Enhance the Ipsley Brook, pond, green space and adjacent habitats with native planting, retaining existing mature trees where possible
  • Improve access through new footpath connection, and improve signage.

Enhance connectivity between centres:

  • Strengthen pedestrian and cycle connections to local schools and the wider neighbourhood, to promote community cohesion and increase access to local services
  • Bus route retained as existing to stop north-south vehicular movement and rat-running.
  • Following discussions with the County Council, it is not proposed to open up these bus only routes to general traffic due to the potential impact of new traffic on existing bus services
  • Northern parking area retained in existing location
  • Parking to the south located in close proximity to District Centre
  • Potential for new paths through green space

Matchborough Site Analysisw

Key features:

  • Local shops and food outlets
    • Convenience store
    • Charity shop
    • Fish and chip shop/takeaway
  • Access and Car Parking
    • Approx 40-50 spaces serving the District Centre
    • No vehicular link between car parks to stop 'rat- running'
    • Bus route retained as existing
  • Residential
    • 1 bed apartments - 6 Units
    • 2 bed houses/apartments - 10 Units
    • Total - 16 units

Matchborough Housing proposals

Playing Fields:

  • Opportunity for existing playing fields north of the all-weather pitch to be relocated into the school site to allow new housing development. The Arrow Vale Academy is formulating proposals for the redevelopment of the school.

Enhance the Residential Environment:

  • Create an attractive new residential environment, with high quality housing and landscape.

Socially Inclusive Spaces:

  • Provision of a central green space/play area that supports a wide variety of activities for all ages and encourages social interaction, to promote health, well-being, social inclusion.

Improve Pedestrian Links:

  • Strengthen active travel connections to the wider neighbourhood, to help increase accessibility and promote vibrancy and community cohesion.

Natural Surveillance:

  • New open space and footpaths to be well lit and overlooked by housing, helping to make the area feel safer.

Biodiversity Net Gain:

  • Proposed and existing green spaces to be designed and managed to increase biodiversity to promote a healthy natural environment that supports and enhances local wildlife.

High Housing Quality:

  • Provision of a mix of house types to meet local need, providing variety and creating a family friendly environment.

Matchborough June 2023 01W

Key Features:

  • Residential
    • 1 bed apartments - 12 Units
    • 2 bed houses/apartments - 38 Units
    • 3 bed detached/semi- detached houses - 25 Units
    • 4 bed detached house - 13 Units
    • Total - 88 units
  • Access and Car Parking
    • Each property has 2 parking spaces
    • Access can be taken from Matchborough Way to the west and Hatfield Close to the east.
  • Green space
    • Central green space/ community garden

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Winyates District Centre Proposals

Renew, regenerate and modernise:

  • Creation of new consolidated District Centre building in the northern part of the site including retail, community and health centre uses
  • Discussions with the NHS are ongoing and although a new facility is shown on plans, they are draft proposals only and are dependent on priorities for wider health provision across the county
  • Central space to link existing craft centre, District Centre and new housing.

Support a range of uses:

  • Encourage a range of uses, facilities and activities to support community cohesion and encourage residents to visit frequently.

Improve retail frontages:

  • Redevelopment to create active frontages to improve natural surveillance over public spaces, helping to improve attractiveness, vibrancy and the perception of safety.

‘Green up’ and change local perceptions:

  • New tree and shrub planting to improve the attractiveness of the area.
  • Enhance green space and provide new play area in central location serving both visitors and local residents.

Access and Transport:

  • Retain existing bus route and stop north- south movement for other vehicles
  • Create an east-west green link to encourage walking and cycling
  • Parking to be located to the north-east and south-east of the centre
  • District Centre servicing from northern access road

Winyates June 2023 Concept 01W

Key Features:

  • Local shops and food outlets
    • Convenience store
    • Newsagent
    • Mobility shop
    • Hairdresser
    • Fish & chip shop/takeaway
    • Coffee shop
  • Services and Community Facilities
    • Community services
    • Playgroup
  • Health
    • Health centre/surgery
    • Dentists
    • Opticians
    • Pharmacy
  • Residential
    • 1 bed apartments - 21 Units
    • 2 apartments - 19 Units
    • 3 bed houses - 18 Units
    • Total = 58 units
  • Access and Car Parking
    • Approx 120-150 spaces serving the District Centre plus additional residential parking. Provision based upon local parking standards, previous car parking surveys and trip calculation assessments
    • Bus route retained as existing

Winyates Site Analysis July 2023 01W

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Next steps

The feedback from this consultation will inform the final proposals for the two district centres.

Recent work has shown that there will be a shortfall in funding for these proposals which means that we will need to apply for funding from alternative sources, such as the Government’s Levelling Up Fund.

The next steps for the two district centres are dependent on the outcomes of future funding applications.

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Have your say, including consultation events

The closing date for comments has now passed .

Consultation events

Thanks if you came and talked to us at our consultation events in the Christ Church Centre and Winyates Shopping Centre in August.

Al Fresco Dining 164378098W

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Files and other resources

The North Worcestershire Economic Development and Regeneration team (NWEDR) is managing this project for us together with Arcadis, and with support from our Planning and Regeneration Team. You can contact NWEDR here, and our Head of Planning and Regeneration here.

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