A councillor has questioned why Nottingham’s tram bridge arches are not put into use for businesses as part of plans to allow street trading on city streets. The city council says traders should be allowed to apply for permission to hold stalls in the area around the former Broadmarsh Centre in a bid to encourage “economic regeneration”.
The idea comes as the redevelopment of the area around the half-demolished shopping centre continues. During a Regulatory and Appeals Committee meeting on Friday, June 9, the proposals to allow street trading in the area were discussed.
The streets involved include Collin Street, Sussex Street, Trent Street and Carrington Street, from its junction with Collin Street to its junction with Station Street, as well as Albion Street and Stanford Street. Cllr Liaqat Ali (Lab) questioned whether the proposals could make use of the arches of the tram bridge in Trent Street, after the council’s property services specialists suggested they could be redeveloped back in 2019.
Are you worried about the number of empty shops in Nottingham city centre? Let us know here.
Computer generated imagery at the time showed a series of restaurants and independent shops in the arches, but officers said this idea had been shelved. The council’s business development manager, Jamie Beardsley, said: “It is not something we are directly looking at. It is up to a level that we could do.
“I think the prospectus of that was actually changing the use of those archways into stable, fixed businesses.” And the council’s senior regeneration officer, Laura Marsden, confirmed the 2019 proposal was no longer on the table.
“I did some of the feasibility work on the arches and it was to actually make some retail units within the arches,” she said. “However the proposal in the report doesn’t directly relate to that project, that proposal, which sadly isn’t going forward at the moment.
“However, as Jamie mentioned, it is about allowing the prospect in the future to potentially allow for trading on the street, but it certainly has not been done directly with the arches in mind.” Meanwhile, the proposal to allow street trading was approved in principle by the committee on June 9, pending a public consultation.
Currently, trading is prohibited on the streets, but under the plans traders would be able to apply for consent to operate. The last time a review of street trading regulations took place in the area was between 10 and 15 years ago, Mr Beardsley said.
“Doing all of this would help generate more footfall in the area and a boost to the local economy,” Mr Beardsley added. “We are facing the decline in the high street, it is a common trend across the markets that we operate as well as city centre venues, so it is looking at trying to find new ways to invigorate that.
“Street trading is an affordable approach to getting people into work.” Mr Beardsley also sought to quash a concern over accessibility issues for people using wheelchairs.
“We would not look to put a position out there and say, that’s what is happening, we would consult with everyone in the locality and the relevant bodies to see if we can put that there,” he said.
“We have looked in the past to create pitches in neighbourhood areas and sometimes we have been relatively unsuccessful because a lot of the time people tend to pick areas with high foot traffic and we look at emergency access routes, we look at affecting people with various disabilities, we won’t impede on anyone. We would not look to impede on local businesses either."
Read next:
