Stevenage 75th anniversary magazine | biz4Biz - Magazine - Page 18
Future
Stevenage: Why mixed-use makes sense to create a thriving 21st
century place to work, live and enjoy
Stevenage is a pioneering town with a
proud history and distinctive challenges.
We now have a bold opportunity to
revitalise and regenerate the town into a
modern, sustainable and thriving place,
where ‘the heart of the town lies in its
people’.
We are determined in our ambition to
make the most of this opportunity to
deliver a town fit for the 21st century that
everyone can be proud of.
Our 75th anniversary marks an important
milestone and as we look forward to the
future, we’re excited to work with partners
to create an even better Stevenage.
We want to see thriving commercial and
retail spaces alongside the residential
in the town centre, to help bring new
life with footfall to shops and cafes and
people visiting, living, working and
spending time and money here.
Having shops, culture and sports at
the heart of the town is important.
However, leading experts on town centre
regeneration are proving that people
living and working in town centres with
a vibrant offer for visitors can provide
resilience against the types of negative
market conditions seen in the financial
and retail sectors recently.
This is why we’re developing our town
for everyone - with an even better town
centre, better places to live and businesses
to thrive with local jobs for local people
18
and improved transport links.
Stevenage Borough Council’s leader,
Sharon Taylor OBE, explains: “We want
to make Stevenage a place where people
want to live, work, play and relax.
Retail-only town centres are a thing of
the past. Towns must look to mixed-use
regeneration in order to drive footfall,
further investment and, ultimately, to
survive.”
We’re also creating spaces for small
businesses, arts and culture sector and
others to help bring vibrancy to the town
centre like the new co-working space for
local people to work flexibly.
w w w. b i z 4 b i z . o r g
Alongside this, the former Marks &
Spencer site being redeveloped to bring
a new gym, restaurant, café, office space
and flats - all underpin our vision to help
create town centre that is great in the day
and attracts diners and entertainment in
the evening.
We continue to press the government
for more funding and freedoms to let us
build more council homes for local people
including family homes.
You can find out more about the
regeneration programme by visiting the
Visitor Centre and contacting the by
visiting Stevenage-Even-Better.com