The Council invited The Prince’s Regeneration Trust (PRT) to chair a Workshop to review the existing character of the townscape of Retford and to explore opportunities for future enhancement.
The report (externally produced document) written by PRT from this event captures the principal conclusions of the tour and discussions. It does not seek to duplicate a historical account of the town as this is well written up elsewhere but it does offer an overview of opportunities for enhancement of the townscape. The findings and recommendations contained within the report will be used by officers in exploring the future regeneration options for the town.
Retford Futures Consultation Feedback
To help improve our local area we gave you the opportunity to have your say on Retford.
We wanted to know what you liked about living in the town and what you felt needed improving.
To do this we ran a six-week consultation period including online surveys and an event at Retford Town Hall.
We received a staggering 2,626 individual comments from a total of 246 residents who took part.
Here is a summary of what you told us
Over 80 of you attended our event at Retford Town Hall in 2015. This was a great opportunity for the public to speak to council officers, ask questions and discuss the future of our town. These are some of the issues raised on the day.
You spoke, we listened
- Many of you spend time visiting the town centre and markets
- Road networks and speeding traffic are issues
- There is a need for better public transport to rural areas
- There are still empty shops in the town centre
- There is not enough parking around the train station
- Many of you think more could be done with the Market Square and Goodwin Hall
- The council should focus on reusing brownfield sites before building on greenfield sites
Questionnaire feedback
Retford in General
- 3 in 5 people think there is enough affordable housing in Retford
- Less than 1 in 10 people feel there are enough job opportunities in the area
- Many people like living in a market town
- Many of you enjoy local services such as Kings Park
In your local area
- Most respondents disliked dog fouling and littering
- Many would like to see footpaths and cycle paths improved
- Many enjoy the quietness and open space in their local area
- People like living close to the countryside
- Improvements in access to and from the train station and rural areas are needed
In the Town Centre
- Many of you like the traditional market town feel and independent shops
- Most people use the town centre for shopping along with work, banking & leisure
- 7 in 10 of you think that the town centre has too few shops
- 8 out of 10 respondents thought the appearance of shop fronts were good or very good
- Many of you dislike parking charges
- Most people didn’t think the council should resurface Carolgate
- 7 in 10 of respondents thought there was a good amount of signage
- 75% said the council should prioritise restoring Retford’s historic buildings
- People would like to see a better choice of shops
Retford intervention plan
This intervention strategy seeks to identify the opportunities for the Council to guide, or where necessary, intervene on sites and projects within the wider Retford Town Centre area.
In certain cases, it may be that the Council has an active role to play either through commissioning reports and/or as the landowner. Furthermore, the Council can offer guidance and assistance to private landowners and investors. It is the intention that this Strategy helps to identify and prioritise the options available for this area.
Introduction
This intervention strategy seeks to identify the opportunities for the Council to guide, or where necessary, intervene on sites and projects within the wider Retford town centre area.
In certain cases, it may be that the Council has an active role to play either through commissioning reports and/or as the landowner. Furthermore,
the Council can offer guidance and assistance to private landowners and investors. It is the intention that this strategy helps to identify and prioritise the options available for this area.
This work has been informed by various pieces of work which have recently been completed which identified potential regeneration options for this area. These include:
- Review of the Council’s industrial sites undertaken by Savills;
- Review of key regeneration opportunities around the town centre and train station area undertaken by the Prince's Regeneration Trust;
- Public consultations with residents and visitors to Retford regarding their views on the future of the town and potential areas for improvements; and
- Discussion with key stakeholders, such as the Business Forum, Civic Society, infrastructure providers and landowners (including Nottinghamshire County Council).
As part of this work, an officer working group has been established to ensure delivery of the key projects identified and the interventions required. It is expected that this strategy will be updated on a regular basis.
Vision and Strategic Objectives
Vision
Retford will be a successful historic market town with its centre based around the market square and the attractive shopping streets extending from it. The town will provide high quality spaces to live, work, visit and spend leisure time in throughout the day and into the evening. Retford will continue to thrive as a service centre for the wider hinterland and rural communities.
Strategic objectives
These are the overarching objectives for the Intervention Strategy:
- Strengthen the town centre as a vibrant retail, leisure, entertainment, cultural business and tourist destination for residents and visitors
- Create a choice of high quality homes in and around the town centre
- Improve the quality of buildings (especially the focal buildings), streets and spaces, including their maintenance and management
- Provide convenient access to the town centre by all modes of travel and enable easier pedestrian movement between key assets
- To enhance the town’s historic assets and the conservation area
- To encourage visitors to stay longer within the town centre by diversifying the range of activities and services available during the day and into the evening
- To provide free public wi-fi within the town centre
- To maximise the long distance rail links the town has
- To increase the visitor assets within the town
Areas of Intervention
There have been four distinctive themes identified to steer interventions within Retford town. These are:
Heart of the rural community
This theme is focused on the service role Retford plays for the rural villages around the town and ensuring easy access for rural residents into the town.
Celebrating the past and embracing the future
This theme is focused on the reasons why people visit the historic market town of Retford including its heritage, visitors’ attractions and leisure opportunities.
A vibrant market town centre
This theme is linked to ensuring the town centre is a place where people can access a wide range of shops and a thriving market.
Retford Station: on track
This theme is centred on the Retford train station, its great rail links to other parts of the UK and the area’s role as a key gateway to the town.
Heart of the rural community
This theme is focused on the service role Retford plays for the rural villages around the town and ensuring easy access to the town and its services.
Retford offers a variety of services and facilities which bring many visitors from the rural hinterland to the town each week. These range from accessing public services in the Council offices, police station, GP surgeries, hospitals and dental clinics to accessing higher education and public transport hubs and routes.
The town centre is largely contained between Amcott Way to the North, Arlington Way to the East, the Chesterfield Canal to the South and Kings Park to the West. Generally these roads and the canal act as a barrier, and interventions linked to improving the pedestrian links into the town centre will help with the connectivity within the town.
Furthermore, the connectivity between the key transport hubs (bus station and train station) and other key areas of the town (such as Kings' Park and some of the car parks) requires improvement.
Objectives
This will be achieved through the following objectives:
- To instil a sense of arrival when people enter Retford, North Nottinghamshire
- To create attractive gateways into the town for all users (vehicular and non-vehicular)
- Improve the vehicular and non-vehicular movements around the town from car parks and bus station
- To safeguard the current services and facilities within the town centre
- To increase the quantity and range of services and facilities within the town centre
Priorities for intervention
The priorities for intervention specific to this theme include:
- Improve the road based gateways into the town
- Improve the public transport gateways into the town (the bus and train stations)
- Improve the non-vehicular gateways (such as the Chesterfield Canal and public footpaths)
- Review the vehicular routes and associated directional signage to key locations such as the services and facilities within the town
- Identify opportunities for new services and facilities within or close to the town centre
- To create an attractive environment for people to spend time in
- To increase the reasons for people to visit the town during the day and in the evenings
Celebrating the past and embracing the future
This theme is focused on the reasons why people visit the historic market town of Retford including its heritage, visitors’ attractions and leisure opportunities. Consideration will also be given to the future of the town to ensure that opportunities are not missed.
This theme is focused on safeguarding and/ or improving the reasons behind what attracts people to visit and spend time within Retford. This includes the unique visitor attractions of Bassetlaw Museum, the town’s historic Kings Park, as well as easy access to the Chesterfield Canal.
Interventions within this theme will highlight these assets and will seek opportunities to enhance their long term role within the town.
Objectives
- These are the main objectives for this theme:
- To promote the existing visitor attractions within the town
- To explore new opportunities for visitors to spend time within the town
- To increase the quality of the town’s historic assets
- To create an attractive environment for people to spend time in
- To restore historic buildings, including shop fronts, and bring underused historic spaces back into use
- To improve the access to and from the Chesterfield Canal
Priorities for intervention
The priorities for intervention specific to this theme include:
- To ensure that Kings' Park maintains and, where possible, enhances its current provision and green flag standard
- Re-use of vacant buildings (such as those on and around the Market Square)
- Re-use of the buildings and spaces to the rear of premises (such as at the back of Carolgate)
- Identify new sites to increase the amount of floorspace available for leisure uses
- Improvements to the Chesterfield Canal (such as pedestrian access and visual appearance of developments fronting onto it)
- To ensure that Retford is at the centre of the Mayflower Pilgrims celebrations
A vibrant market town centre
This theme is linked to ensuring the town centre is a place where people can access a wide range of shops and a thriving market creating a vibrant town centre.
The town centre is largely based around Carolgate, the market square and the attractive shopping streets extending from it. The retail offer includes well-known high street conglomerates, smaller independent retailers and market traders.
Interventions that are identified within this theme are focused on increasing the quality and range of the retail offer within the town centre, focusing on Carolgate and the Market Square. The role of the side streets will also be an important consideration in ensuring the town centre remains a vibrant and popular shopping destination.
Objectives
These are the main objectives for this theme:
- To improve the quality and size of the retail units available within the town centre
- To increase the range of the retail offer
- To reduce the amount of empty shops
- To ensure the market remains an asset to the town
- To create an attractive environment to shop in
Priorities for intervention
The priorities for intervention specific to this theme include:
- Re-use/re-development of vacant premises in the town centre
- Increase the amount of quality retail floorspace (including rationalising the unit sizes to create larger more attractive units)
- Opportunities to improve (and increase if required) the pedestrian realm along Carolgate through to the Market Square and Cannon Square
- Increasing the footfall in the town centre
- Identify opportunities to enhance the market (including the scope and type of goods being sold)
Retford Station: on track
This theme is centred on Retford train station, the rail links to parts of the UK and the area’s role as a key gateway to the town.
Retford train station is on the East Coast Mainline with travel time to London at 90 minutes and York within 35 minutes. The station is also on the Sheffield-Lincoln route, with Sheffield 40 minutes away. This theme highlights the importance of these rail connections to the future prosperity of the town.
The area around the train station and the town centre is predominantly housing, with a scattering of individual businesses and empty properties.
There are many visitors and commuters who use the train station on a regular basis and therefore the area around the train station can form their first impression of Retford. Interventions within this theme will be focused on creating an attractive environment to encourage rail users to spend more time in the town centre and to create a positive image for Retford.
Objectives
These are the main objectives for this theme:
- To instil a sense of arrival when people visit Retford train station
- To maximise the rail connections to other towns and cities
- To create attractive gateways into the town for all users from the train station (vehicular and non-vehicular)
- To provide clear and relevant signposting for visitors’ needs
Priorities for intervention
The priorities for intervention specific to this theme include:
- Identify and improve the key pedestrian and non-vehicular routes around the train station (including to the town centre and neighbouring residential areas)
- Improve the non-vehicular gateways (such as the Chesterfield Canal and public footpaths)
- Review the directional signage from the train station and the pedestrian movements linked to this
- Improve the quality of the environment around the train station to create a positive first impression for users of the train station
- To take advantage of the rail connections
Last Updated on Wednesday, May 8, 2024