Thriving district and local centres: Chaucer District Centre case study


Sheffield City Council share their findings on how to create a thriving district centre

Summary

Southey Owlerton, with a population of approx 45,000, is one of the most deprived areas of Sheffield. However, it does not currently have a district centre and as a result local people can't access an appropriate range of facilities locally. This lack of district centre is holding back the development of a successful housing market in Southey Owlerton and limiting the opportunities of the individuals who live there.

The North Sheffield Area Development Framework recognises the critical role that district and local centres can play in the regeneration of the area. One of the ADF objectives is to promote thriving and attractive neighbourhood centres with a sustainable mix of shopping, services, community facilities and residential provision within a high quality public realm. Successful neighbourhoods need to have such facilities in them to draw people into the area to live and work there.

The new district centre at Chaucer will include a new food store (the only modern, large format food store in the whole Southey Owlerton area), new shops, new housing, a school, a Library Learning Centre (including a new learning library, adult learning facilities and Sheffield Homes area housing office), a proposed new Learning Disability Resource Centre, a new public square and an NHS health centre.

Key learning

  • Put time and resource into producing a strong business case. This could be via research, producing strategies / masterplans, consulting stakeholders, identifying clear objectives and benefits.
  • Put robust governance arrangements in place to develop and deliver the project or programme of change. Ensuring that key stakeholders are involved and part of the decision making and that the stakeholders are represented by officers with appropriate seniority will reduce the risk of problems arising in making decisions to progress the project.
  • Commit to adequately resourcing the project at the outset. It is uneconomical to run it with insufficient resources - delays occur due to lack of capacity within the delivery team.
  • To avoid disappointment, recognise that physical regeneration projects take a long time to develop and deliver. Realistically programme the key milestones.

Making it happen

The proposal for the creation of the Chaucer district centre has been in development for almost 10 years.

Following extensive consultation with the local community a set of Neighbourhood Strategies were completed in 2002 - a Regeneration Framework for Southey Owlerton and an individual strategy for each of the five neighbourhoods. Following further detailed consultation in 2005, Sheffield City Council's Cabinet approved, as a material consideration in the Planning process, a series of Masterplans for Southey Owlerton along with the Southey Owlerton Neighbourhood Centres Strategy.

These reports together recommend a programme of transformational change for Southey Owlerton including the development of new types and tenure of housing, improvement to green spaces and the consolidation of facilities within a network of four neighbourhood centres including the creation of a new district centre for Southey Owlerton at Chaucer in the neighbourhood of Parson Cross.

The vision, as set out in the North ADF, is that these changes will create "garden city neighbourhoods for the twenty-first century" that will regenerate the area. The creation of a new district centre is seen as a vital component to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Southey Owlerton neighbourhoods.

The key issues that needed addressing to ensure effective development and delivery of the district centre programme were as follows:

Robust project management

To establish a robust project management approach that was adequately resourced, a cross directorate board was established. This also included key external stakeholders, to pull together what is a complex programme due to the interrelated funding package required and the number of different land owners and stakeholders involved. A programme team operates alongside the board that manages the day to day delivery of the programme.

Best use of assets and receipts

Agreement of best use of the council's assets and receipts enabled delivery of the programme while balancing the needs and resource requirements of individual services. The cross directorate board was instrumental in reaching agreement on use of assets and board members led on negotiations within their respective directorates wherever there were competing priorities.

External funding

Securing external funding filled any gap within the funding package for delivery. A relationship with funding bodies and regeneration agencies was established early on in the process, even in the research and evidence gathering stage while a business case for the programme was being produced. This early involvement and support from funding bodies meant that the delivery of the district centre was aligned with funding priorities and meant that there was already a good understanding of the programme, the objectives and the benefits that it would bring, when a request for funding was submitted.

Achieving high quality design

Convincing advisors and some stakeholders of the importance of delivering a centre with high quality design in an area of deprivation such as Parson Cross has been sometimes difficult.

Making a difference

Currently the Chaucer District Centre programme is moving into the delivery phase so the ultimate benefits of the centre cannot be measured yet. However, because of the local involvement in the planning stages of the centre to date, there is increasing enthusiasm and interest in what is going to be developed over the years ahead.

The proposals for the district centre have been met with a great deal of support from the majority of local residents and other stakeholders who are looking forward to a much improved retail and service offer and a real visual statement that symbolises the change in prospects for the neighbourhood.

Next steps

The Chaucer District Centre will begin on site this year. Construction of the Library Learning centre and public square will start this autumn and complete in the autumn of 2010. ASDA and the Primary Care Trust are currently in pre-planning discussions with Sheffield City Council and will both be submitting planning applications in October 2009 and early 2010 respectively, with a view to starting on site before the end of next year.

In addition, a market brief is currently being prepared for the mixed use block. The final component of public realm and public art work to tie the new district centre developments together and link them with the existing infrastructure will be commenced in October 2009.

Further information

For further information please contact John Clephan of the Regeneration Team:

Tel: 0114 20 39568
Email: [email protected]