The council has revealed concept plans for the redevelopment of the north of the city centre and is seeking investors to back the £1 billion scheme.
The vision is set out on the council’s website.
Dubbed ‘City Centre North’ it would cover a 20h hectare swathe of land from the Sports Centre in the east to Bishop Street in the west.
It could include the city’s transport museum, Pool Meadow bus station, the bus garage, sports centre and the Elephant Building.
The Council has described it as a “Major mixed use placemaking scheme ..… sustainable development with placemaking and community at the very heart.”
Placemaking is an approach to urban planning and design that focuses on the people who use a space, rather than just the physical structures or buildings.
The scheme is described as “The creation of new interlinking vibrant public spaces each with a different offering that blends with newly activated ground and first floor uses, promoting a diverse and interesting blend of leisure, hospitality, food and beverage, retail and community uses.”
There is also a strong transport focus, with plans to enhance the northern gateways to the city centre. The plan is to create a collection of interlinked access hubs around the city centre. This includes the extension of Coventry Very Light Rail links and easing movement in and out of the city on public transport, creating improved walking and cycle links and improving connectivity to existing communities.
The scheme is not a comprehensive redevelopment like City Centre South. Instead, the Council envisages an approach with pockets of redevelopment, the re-modelling and re-use of some existing buildings and spaces and some new development.
The Council wants to encourage new inner-city communities by providing environments including new co-living hubs, subscription living, creative studios and live-work spaces, as well as new townhouses and apartments.
The website includes a plethora of words promoting the green credentials of the potential scheme: “We want to promote a circular approach to sustainability, promoting low carbon and net zero, incorporating renewables, minimising living costs, re-purposing existing assets, incorporating green and blue infrastructure, promoting green movement in and around the city and maximising private and shared amenity spaces for residents and enhancing wellbeing and health.”
The Coventry Society believes that there is a need for some redevelopment in the north of the city centre. We welcome the Council’s initiative. We sign up to the Council’s vision of “sustainable development with placemaking and community at the very heart.” For this vision to come to fruition the Council needs to engage the public from the start and not wait until everything is fixed. Our message to the Council is “Talk to people in Coventry now and not just developers and investors!”.