Sutton ‘masterplan’ consultation could ‘overhaul and remap’ town centre

The council will open a public consultation with Ashfield residents to discuss what they believe can be improved about the town centre and surrounding area.

The council sees its masterplan will be a “valuable” document, hoping to underpin future investment into Sutton including a multi-million pound bid to the government’s Future High Street Fund to help make Sutton a “21st Century town centre”.

The aim of the consultation is to establish a “common understanding” of Sutton town centre, analysing its “character and identity”.

The council also plans to develop a clear vision for Sutton town centre, guide its development and improvements to “future-proof the town for the next 30-40 years”.

Councillor Jason Zadrozny, council leader, said: “The aim of the masterplan is to talk to residents and see what they think can be improved about Sutton.

“Once we know what people want we will put together a bid to the government to receive support, and I think with what we can achieve we should need about £5 million.

“This is unlike normal consultations, which usually draw up documents before asking the public what they think.

“Here we have a blank canvas and we genuinely just want to see where residents think the area can be improved.”

The council has outlined a number of ideas it already has to “reinvigorate Sutton” and promote trade.

Coun Zadrozny added: “Ideas we already have in mind include remapping the town centre and creating a full circular route around the shopiing area and Idlewells.

“We want to make it so shoppers pass as many shops as they can without walking up and down the same street.

“Over the last few years we have noticed that Outram Street has retracted and more business is coming in from Brook Street and near ASDA, so we need to bring this in.

“One of the other things we are looking at is trying to attract bigger retailers into the town by analysing spots that are fit for development, and making Sutton somewhere where people want to start up trade.”

The scheme will also look into ways of improving the town’s food and drink provisions, with Coun Zadrozny drawing off examples in Hucknall and Nottingham for the way they have “great shops during the day and great food and drink for the night”.

A public consultation on the masterplan and supporting paper - ‘Sutton Town Centre: Rethink, Repurpose, Remake’, will take place from Wednesday, January 23, and close at 5pm on Friday, February 22.

The council leader says that, once the consultation ends, it should take “a couple of months to put a bid together, and a couple of months to get a government response”.