Helping the town centre is one of the council's key priorities. Significant government money was available to support Town Deal proposals, which would be money coming in to Redditch.
Redditch Town Centre Proposals
A new community hub is part of improvements to Redditch town centre. Here's more information!
The hub and plaza redevelopment
The new community hub is linked to a related ‘plaza’ redevelopment proposed off nearby Alcester Street.
They are linked via the Town Investment Plan from the Redditch Town Deal Board (more info on the Town Deal is below). Amongst other things, the Town Investment Plan secured government funding to regenerate what were the soon-to-be former sites of the library and police station.
With services eyeing moves into money-saving, modernised, shared premises, the intention was to line up funding so that if and when they moved, their old sites could be regenerated and breathe new life into Redditch town centre.
Plans to do just that were backed under a £15.6m Town Deal funding award from the government, which included over £4m for the library site (and over £8m for the police station site).
The county council did subsequently decide to move the library into shared premises, and it will now join the borough council, NHS and other services at the new community hub at a transforming Redditch Town Hall. There's more on that below.
As such the funding is already in place to help turn the site the library will leave behind into a brand new and improved area of public realm, new retail, and other opportunities, to better connect the Kingfisher Shopping Centre and Church Green areas and boost the town.
There's a video showing the masterplan below and you can see the Links to further resources section at the bottom of this page for more information.
Frequent asked Questions and Answers
How it could look
The community hub
The community hub is seeing the Town Hall remodeled to include multiple services. The NHS parts are already complete.
Elsewhere across the project, the library will take up most of the building. The council chambers where public meetings are held will go upstairs in a new central circulation lobby, as will council staff. And other parts of the building will include other services too.
There will be shared rooms not dedicated to any occupier, which would be available for use by community groups.
The point of the hub is to invest in a renewed facility for people to easily access multiple tenant services in one place, and which is significantly more efficient to run.
The plaza
The area that would be left vacant by the library move could be transformed using the Towns Fund money secured for this purpose.
A new public plaza and events space with associated commercial development and opportunities would improve connectivity between the Kingfisher Shopping Centre and Redditch's historic town centre.
This could include bars, restaurants and more.
The 'Regenerating Redditch Masterplan'
These projects are part of a wider plan by a range of partner agencies all working together to improve Redditch under the Redditch Town Deal.
Here is an aspirational flythrough through artists' impressions of the vision and ambitions of the partners, across all five proposed regeneration sites in the plan: the railway station, the connecting public realm up Unicorn Hill, the connecting plaza on Alcester Street where the library would vacate, the Community Hub, and the Digital Manufacturing Innovation Centre where the police station has vacated.
Please note that these videos are conceptual and for visualisation purposes only. Design aspects are subject to change.
How Redditch Town Deal works
Redditch Town Deal is a regeneration partnership. It is managed by the Town Deal Board which is made up of local businesses, both borough and county councils, the MP, and various other agencies. As the local planning authority, the borough council is the board’s lead partner.
Launched in 2020, the purpose of the Town Deal Board is to enable Redditch to apply for and use the Government’s Towns Fund to deliver a range of town centre regeneration proposals.
In 2021 the board secured £15.6m for regeneration in Redditch town centre with a Town Investment Plan. This includes over £4m for the proposed plaza redevelopment, amongst others.
For more information, see the Redditch Town Deal website in the links to further resources section below.
Links to further resources
Press releases
- 13/1/22: Leigh loves Redditch!
- 22/2/22: Town Hall budget set
- 5/10/22: Plans To Move Library To Bigger Space Will Be Discussed
- 1/12/22: Moves to create a community hub gather momentum
- 7/12/22: Take a Virtual Tour Of Proposed Plaza Plans
- 20/7/23: 'Key' library vote welcomed
Other resources
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