Cabinet:

1. Approved the final construction cost for the approved Armada Way design as £29,892,665;

 

2. Recommended the Leader approves additions to the Capital Programme as set out in the report giving a maximum spend allocation of £29,892,665 to finance the construction of the approved Armada Way scheme;

 

3. Noted that to support the on-going maintenance of projects within the city centre for a period of five years starting in 2025/2026 that hard and soft landscaping maintenance be funded from previously identified capital approved resources already forming part of the Capital Programme;

 

4. Granted authority to the Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure to take all such action as necessary to implement the project including all subsequent design amendments (excluding amendments which impact on the retention of any existing trees or the approved translocation of trees), scheme approval submissions, procurement and contract awards associated with developing and delivering the Armada Way scheme through to construction and completion, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Members;

 

5. Delegated to the Cabinet Member for Finance authority to make any decisions which impact on the retention of any existing trees, or the approved translocation of trees associated with developing and delivering the Armada Way scheme through to construction and completion.

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) welcomed Paul Barnard (Service Director of Strategic Planning and Infrastructure) and Martin Ivatt (Regeneration and Placemaking Manager).

 

Councillor Evans OBE (Leader of the Council) introduced the item and provided the following update:

a)    Plymouth had been cited in the national press as a great place to live and work;

b)    The city centre was being reimagined as a modern, vibrant and mixed-use destination with new community living at its heart;

c)    It was important to remember the city centre was not just for visitors, but also for the residents who would use the city centre as their backyard;

d)    A visit by Sir Oliver Letwin, who was on the Homes England Board, was hosted on 21 August 2024. The visit included the railway station, Armada Way, the Hoe;

e)    The Homes England Board would be hosted in Plymouth in November;

f)     There were ambitious targets for house building within Plymouth and the city centre would be fundamental to achieving that target;

g)    The average city had 8500 people living in the city centre, whereas Plymouth only had 850 due to a post-war policy which moved people out of the city and into the suburbs;

h)    Plymouth was developing plans with a hope Partners would buy into the vision and make further investments;

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) provided the following update:

i)     On 19 February 2024 the design of the Armada Way project was approved, and the Strategic Director for Place was instructed to take all necessary steps to confirm the final construction cost;

j)     Cabinet instructed the Strategic Director for Place to establish a City Centre Public Realm Board, which would coordinate and monitor all existing public realm revenue maintenance and oversee new incoming regeneration initiatives;

k)    Since February 2024, Officers and Specialist Independent Consultants had analysed the details in the documentation from the contractor and the bill of quantities;

l)     Trial pits and surveys had been undertaken to verify the costs and assess the risk to delivery;

m)  Total construction costs for the scheme had been verified at £29.8 million, two thirds of which was funded by external sources. The total cost to the tax payer was £11.2 million;

n)    Further grant funding would be applied for when it was available in an attempt to reduce the £11.2 million cost to the tax payer;

o)    Future projects for the city centre included Royal Parade and the District Heat Network Pilot;

p)    In order to aid operation and support existing businesses during ongoing development of Armada Way, there were five specific actions:

1. Subject to Cabinet agreement, a letter would be written to city centre businesses setting out the details of the programme;

2. A dedicated Armada Way Liaison Officer had been appointed who would be the single point of contact for all city centre businesses during the construction works and will be based in the Knowledge Hub on Armada Way;

3. Regular question and answer sessions would commence in September to address concerns and issues that businesses might have;

4. The website would continue to be updated with new information about the progress of the scheme;

5. Plymouth City Council (PCC) would continue to liaise with the City Centre Company on all aspects of the Armada Way scheme until it’s completion;

q)    Existing businesses in the city centre did not want to invest in the city centre because of the state of the public realm, however new businesses coming into Armada Way had seen the work undertaken in Old Town Street and New George Street;

r)    It was made certain that costs were robust through trial pits, surveys, and by employing consultants;

s)     The new play village was the size of five tennis courts and the seating would accommodate approximately 500 people;

t)     There would be an entirely new CCTV system and there would be 5,159 square metres of accessible green space, similar to the size of the park on West Hoe. There would also be also new granite walkways of six metres either side and a new cycle path of 500 metres;

u)    There would be 22,000 square metres of accessible public realm which was the size of three football pitches;

v)    There would be a new sustainable drainage system which would provide up to a 78% reduction in surface water runoff which went into the combined sewage system;

w)   Although it was a lot of money to invest, it was being invested wisely to the benefit of existing businesses with the hope to attract new businesses and provide much needed housing in the city.

Nigel Godefroy (Chair of the City Centre Company) added:

 

x)    Congratulated the Council on behalf of the City Centre Company on the commitment to the scheme and to the city centre;

y)    Armada Way no longer served its purpose as the confident gateway to the city centre and gave visitors a poor first impression of a city centre in decline with many empty buildings;

z)    The plans were fully supported by the City Centre Company as they presented the city with a once in a generation opportunity to create a safe, welcoming and vibrant city centre;

aa)  Quality public realm drove quality investment which drove value for everyone;

bb) The high quality of the Armada Way scheme would set the quality template for further regeneration projects;

cc)  Recent investments into The Box, The Barcode, Civic Square, New George Street and Old Town Street meant new businesses were taking over empty properties;

dd) The investments in the city centre, together with the proposed Armada Way scheme, would unlock millions of pounds of further investment for housing, leisure and other uses.

 

Steve Hughes (Chief Executive of the City Centre Company) added:

ee) The new public spaces in Old Town Street, New George Street and Armada Way gave the City Centre Company more ability to host events and activities that would create community;

ff)    New lighting and new CCTV would encourage new businesses into a ‘café culture’ with more outdoor seating.

Stuart Elford (CEO of Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce) added:

 

gg)  The investment was a clear signal of ambition, confidence and leadership and would get Plymouth talked about for the right reasons;

hh) This investment would appeal to businesses and employers, would attract and retain investors, would attract talent for highly skilled and higher paid jobs, and university students;

ii)    The evening and night time visitor economy would improve;

jj)    The regeneration of the city centre would encourage new uses for empty buildings, including hotels, meeting rooms and much needed conference facilities.

Councillor Laing (Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children’s Social Care, Culture and Communications) added:

 

kk) The ‘Lets Talk Armada Way’ consultation was set out in detail in meetings held 5 February 2024 and 19 February 2024, which responded to recommendations from the Growth and Infrastructure Overview and Scrutiny Committee regarding revising the plans for Armada Way;

ll)    The design agreed at the meetings in February would be funded mainly from external sources;

mm)              The Armada Way Scheme demonstrated PCC’s aspirations for enhancing the quality of the public realm in Plymouth and also the wider vision for creating a transformed, modern, thriving city centre which would meet the needs of the people of Plymouth.

 

Councillor Briars-Delve (Cabinet Member for Environment and Climate Change) added:

 

nn) The Armada Way Scheme would have a total of 202 mature trees, which was  more than existed there before;

oo) Provision for wildlife would be enhanced through shrubs, wild flowers, reed beds, bee hotels and bird boxes;

pp)  The design was improved following the ‘Let’s Talk Armada Way’ consultation by increasing the diversity of tree species, allowing additional under-planting as well as ‘greening the grey’, all of which were specific changes raised by residents and community groups;

qq) The proposed sustainable urban drainage system which formed an integral part of the scheme design was essential for the city centre’s adaption to climate change. The existing peak surface water runoff had been modelled at 311 litres per second, and the implementation of the sustainable urban drainage system would reduce this to 68.5 litres per second, equating to a 78% of surface water being diverted away from the combined sewage system in heavy rainfall events.

Councillor Cresswell (Cabinet Member for Education, Skills and Apprenticeships) added:

rr)  The new play village would attract increased numbers of children and young people to use the city centre;

ss)   The Scheme had been critically reviewed by Make Space for Girls who recognised many positives for girls;

tt)   Changes were being made to small elements of the design to make it more welcoming and accommodating for the under-represented demographic of young girls in the public realm and play spaces;

uu) The approved scheme was an inclusive design which provided opportunities for young people and supported their mental and physical development and health, as well as their intellectual development;

vv)  The Scheme would provide places for young people to socialise and the proposed pop-up spaces would provide opportunities for outdoor music, art and informal recreation.

Councillor Haydon (Cabinet Member for Community Safety, Libraries, Events, Cemeteries and Crematoria) added:

ww)               The Armada Way Scheme would improve safety by introducing new enhanced lighting which would support the night time economy and make the public feel less vulnerable;

xx) The Scheme would provide a new CCTV system which would have significant enhancements and help address antisocial behaviour.

yy)  The Scheme directly addressed the recommendations from Violence Against Women and Girls reports, showing PCC’s commitment to taking practical steps to address that important issue;

zz)  The Armada Way Scheme was not just a landscaping project, but an integrated set of proposals that would help address a much wider set of challenges the city centre faced.

Councillor Coker (Cabinet Member for Strategic Planning and Transport) added:

aaa)                The Armada Way Scheme would make much needed improvements to cycling and walking infrastructure within the city centre and would meet the guidelines set for Government cycling and walking infrastructure;

bbb)               The Transforming Cities Fund was investing over £4.5 million towards the delivery of the Scheme;

ccc)                The cycling and walking scheme had widespread support and would help to achieve the existing commitments in the Joint Local Plan, to deliver sustainable transport measures for the growing city;

ddd)              The new infrastructure would enable the foundations to be laid for an expansion of city centre living with more people living and working in the city centre. Footfall for businesses would increase, vacant and historic buildings would be repurposed and this would support the commitments in the Joint Local Plan.

 

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) added:

 

eee)               Armada Way was inaccessible to those with various visual and physical impairments and in need modernisation;

fff)   The inclusion of inclusive and sensory play was an integral part of the Scheme;

ggg)                Work would continue with Plymouth Area Disability Action Network (PADAN) throughout the construction phases of the Scheme to ensure that consideration continued to be given to those whose needs were based on visual and physical impairments.

Councillor Aspinall (Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care) also provided additional comments on behalf of Councillor Dann (Cabinet Member for Customer Services, Sport, Leisure and HR & OD):

hhh)               The Armada Way Scheme would give the city centre a new dimension with the redesign encouraging a wider range of interesting active, social and cultural activities that would give local people more reason to visit the city centre;

iii)   Visitors would stay longer in the city centre as there would be more to do, which would benefit existing shops;

jjj)   The investments PCC were making would attract new private sector investments which would improve the retail offer further;

kkk)               New shops would give local people and visitors more reason to visit the city centre and the investment would enable an upward spiral, making the city centre a vibrant and interesting place to visit.

Councillor Penberthy (Cabinet Member for Housing, Cooperative Development and Communities) added:

lll)   In February 2024 it was highlighted that housing was a top priority for Plymouth and since then the Administration set out their own ambitions for accelerating housing delivery. Plan for Homes 4 was approved in March 2024;

mmm)          It was PCC’s ambition to deliver a minimum of 5000 homes in five years;

nnn)               The need to unlock the city centres future potential as a place people choose to live was highlighted and the focus was on the delivery of a wide range of homes which would meet housing needs as well as place making;

ooo)              The Government were addressing the housing crisis as a central part of their primary mission to deliver economic growth;

ppp)               Armada Way was vital to the housing ambition due to the scheme unlocking amenity space, drainage and utilities;

qqq)               The play village would create local play and green space for the residents of Bretonside who didn’t have that available;

rrr)                The report highlighted that over 23,000 people would be within a kilometre of the new play facilities.

Councillor Lowry (Cabinet Member for Finance) added:

sss)This was the one of the largest public realm projects in the UK and if
approved, Phase 1 work would commence on 01 October 2024 which would see work begin from the Copthorne hotel to the Mayflower. Phase 2 would start on 02 February 2025 and Phase 3 would start in July 2025 with work undertaken on parts of Cornwall Street and the Sundial; 

ttt) The Piazza works were delayed due to extensive works along Royal Parade.

 

Cabinet:

1. Approved the final construction cost for the approved Armada Way design as £29,892,665;

 

2. Recommended the Leader approves additions to the Capital Programme as set out in the report giving a maximum spend allocation of £29,892,665 to finance the construction of the approved Armada Way scheme;

 

3. Noted that to support the on-going maintenance of projects within the city centre for a period of five years starting in 2025/2026 that hard and soft landscaping maintenance be funded from previously identified capital approved resources already forming part of the Capital Programme;

 

4. Granted authority to the Service Director for Strategic Planning and Infrastructure to take all such action as necessary to implement the project including all subsequent design amendments (excluding amendments which impact on the retention of any existing trees or the approved translocation of trees), scheme approval submissions, procurement and contract awards associated with developing and delivering the Armada Way scheme through to construction and completion, in consultation with the relevant Cabinet Members;

 

5. Delegated to the Cabinet Member for Finance authority to make any decisions which impact on the retention of any existing trees, or the approved translocation of trees associated with developing and delivering the Armada Way scheme through to construction and completion.