Councillor Tudor Evans OBE introduced the item to Cabinet and highlighted the following key points:  

  

a)    Plymouth City Council had over 80 projects linked to the council’s economic plan; 

 

b)    The Economic team delivered a £1bn pipeline of development over a decade and had secured a further £1bn for the future decade; 

 

c)    The Economic Development department’s capital programme in 2025 was £155m, supported by over £100m in grants secured by the team; 

 

d)    In Economic Development they enabled projects, funded projects, invested in projects and directly delivered projects. Those projects transformed the city and made money through rents, council tax and business rates; 

 

e)    Thanked Matthew Ward (Head of Regeneration and Growth) for all his contributions to the city. 

  

Matthew Ward (Head of Regeneration and Growth) gave a presentation to Cabinet and highlighted the following key points:  

  

f)     Plymouth City Council contributed £19 million to the Derriford District Centre, which had provided over 100 new jobs;  

 

g)    The Foulson park project was making a difference to the local community and the foundations for a new 3G football pitch had been laid. The steel frame for a new pavilion building had also been constructed. Plymouth City Council invested £3 million into the project which was matched by £20 million of funding from Plymouth Argyle and Plymouth Argyle Trust. Plymouth Community Leisure Ltd would take over the stewardship for the community; 

 

h)    The Community Diagnostics Centre was under construction and was scheduled to open in 2026. The site was designed to help the NHS co-ordinate their non-acute services offsite and would drive footfall into the city centre. 91,000 tests per year were expected to be scheduled at the site when operational;  

 

i)     The Guildhall modernisation and refurbishment, scheduled for completed in late 2025, aimed to improve acoustics in the great hall and provide better facilities for the public; 

 

j)     The Civic Centre refurbishment had begun and was scheduled for completion in autumn 2029. The project aimed to provide 144 new homes and 2,000 new students educated in blue and green skills; 

 

k)    Bath street would see up to 136 new homes in addition to commercial space. The new homes would be 100% affordable and phase one of the project would commence by the end of 2025 subject to funding agreements; 

 

l)     Oceansgate phases one and two had been delivered, creating 2,600 square metres of office and industrial space and 113 new jobs. Phase three would be starting by the end of 2025 and would see the creation of a further 1,310 square metres of space over eight units; 

 

m)  Tinside Lido would see a £4.5 million renovation and creation of a multi-use facility, including a new youth facility. The new facilities would encourage youth engagement, community engagement and new commercial opportunities;  

 

n)    The Mountbatten Water Sports Centre would have over £4 million in redevelopment with new accessible facilities. The Council was undertaking a tender opportunity for improvements to the pontoons;  

 

o)    Renovations to the Mount Edgcumbe Garden Battery would start in 2026; 

 

p)    Within the Freeport project at the Langage site there was 4,615m² of sustainable, high quality employment accommodation targeting high quality and high environmental standards. The build which had started in 2024 was set for completion in Autumn 2025;  

 

q)    Barrack Court was completed and was almost completely let with the remaining units under offer creating over 50 jobs on that site; 

 

r)    Through government funding and the Brownfield Land Release Fund, the former museum annex and social club at Tavistock Place had been demolished and the next phase of the project was being progressed and come back to Cabinet as the plans evolved; 

 

s)     A strategic partnership with homes England shared a vision for 10,000 homes in the city centre which would see the creation of 7,000 new construction jobs on priority sites at the Civic centre, West End, Armada north and the Railway station. The council continued to work closely with Homes England, MHCLG, Babcock and the MOD to drive forward plans for housing in the city centre; 

 

In response to questions raised it was reported that:  

  

t)     There was £250 million worth of schemes on site that the council were directly involved with or leading on; 

 

u)    The investments would see Plymouth building its rental income, asset base and rates base. As the debt was paid off, Plymouth would be in a strong place and would be setup for the future;  

 

v)    Plymouth had a strong vision for where it wanted to go and was in the risk business where the private sector wouldn’t go. There was an appetite for the developments which was shown by units being let before they were finished; 

 

w)   Flavourfest proved to be a successful event in 2025 and was as a result of the work that was undertaken on Old Town Street and New George Street;  

 

x)    The Armada Way development was on time and within budget and an additional 10 trees were being included in the first element of the plans. 

  

Martin Ivatt (Regeneration and Placemaking Manager) gave a presentation to Cabinet which highlighted the following key points:  

  

y)    Zone 1A was nearing its completion and would be open by August 2025;  

 

z)    Mayflower street had been reopened with key infrastructural works completed under the road for that important crossing;  

 

aa)  High quality granite had been laid and there was no concrete in the scheme above ground;  

 

bb)The cycle path running from North Cross down to Royal Parade was under construction; 

 

cc)  There was 91 people on site working on the project;  

 

dd)The first section of wildflower turf was completed with 1,000 square metres in the firstzone alone;  

 

ee)The rill would recirculate water, watering the trees as well as providing more aesthetic and ornamental quality;  

 

ff)    Work had commenced on the eastern side of Armada Way with tree soil being delivered to allow for the next trees to be planted;  

 

gg)  The Elms that were being planted were resistant to Dutch Elm disease in an effort to restore the elm population;  

 

hh)The first parts of the play equipment had arrived and would be installed;  

 

ii)    Bridges connected the businesses and residential premises to not interrupt the operation of shops at all. 

  

In response to questions raised it was reported that:  

  

jj)    The team in place had learned from previous developments and were working at pace, on time and to budget, whilst maintaining good relationships;  

 

kk)It was the intention to open and use the amphitheatre space from day one and discussions had taken place with the City Centre company to progress those plans;  

 

ll)    The 10 additional trees were welcomed for phase one of the project following feedback;  

 

mm)              The Wildflower turf would have a continuous turf mix of 85-90% flowers which would bloom from April to October and only require one cut before they came back stronger in the season. There were around 15,000 perennial herbaceous plants going into Armada Way; 

 

nn)The team were thanked for their monthly updates through newsletters and site visit invitations to understand the various intricacies of the project; 

 

oo)It was advised that the system being installed in Armada Way would be a complete continuous system and as the phases opened it would seem as though it was not working. This would not be the case, and the system would work after all the phases were completed. Until the phases were completed, all the trees would continue to be manually watered;  

 

pp)Since Old Town Street and New George Street works were completed, there had been a change in how people were responding to the scheme to one in which was positive. 

  

The Cabinet agreed to note the update.