‘Journey of discovery’ is promised for town
CLOSER LOOK AT PLANS FOR CENTRE OF STOCKTON
IT remains pictures on a page, shapes on a computer-rendered peek into a potential future, years from becoming a reality.
But the £40m vision, touted as a “gamechanger” and an “iconic nationally recognisable” waterfront park and plaza, is slowly edging into focus. Plans put in this week include an amphitheatre with terraces and central riverside stage, large play area, events spaces and oval lawn in place of the Castlegate Shopping Centre in Stockton.
The masterplan also takes in a new library, leisure centre, register office, customer service centre and – also confirmed this week – an NHS hub or community diagnostic centre offering rapid scans, tests and checks. Riverside Road will be narrowed and tunnelled, opening up a path from High Street to the riverside.
“There’s something there for everybody,” says Councillor Nigel Cooke, Stockton Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and housing. “I think this’ll create a lot of chatter, and I think most of it will be positive.
“This is a big scheme and it’s attracted not just the attention of local people, it’s attracted national attention and even people in Europe were looking in on it.
“We’re really leading the way in Stockton. People are looking to us, towns up and down the country. Everybody’s looking to Stockton to see how we can create a high street, a town centre that’s fit for this new era.
“We’re getting to the sharp end of what this will look like. There’s a lot of speculation out there, what it’s going to be. You can see now the vision that’s coming through.”
The scheme already has outline planning permission, and has now put in a more detailed application, with a target to have the matter decided by councillors on the planning committee in April. If approved, construction is set to start after the demolition of the Swallow Hotel, Castlegate Shopping Centre and multi-storey car park, with completion expected in 2024 to 2025.
Ian Robinson, the council’s assistant director for town centre development, says consultations revealed a focus on spaces for events and performances. He says: “We asked people what was important to them.
“They were talking about artwork, reflecting heritage, spaces to sit and relax, the importance of community safety, accessible spaces and features. That starts to come through as a real driver within the design.”
A “journey of discovery” is promised with art, culture and play with interwoven history and heritage in writing and illustrations on floors and walls, along with shelters with “plug and play facilities” for pop-up food and drink outlets, garden attractions and colour-change lighting. But there is still far to go.
Buildings are not designed yet – this is out to tender – and still appear on CG illustrations as basic blocks. Numerous other details are yet to be filled in.
“There’s still some detail we need to work through around the play area, the finer details, the artistic elements, the historic references to Stockton’s heritage,” says Mr Robinson.
“What we’ve tried to do is keep the key principles we established in 2020 to 2021 with the concept masterplan around flexible and accessible space and transformational change on the High Street.”
He says the move of 31 businesses from Castlegate to Wellington Square marked the starting point of this transformation, with only B&M and Barclays Bank still in the shopping centre.
“A lot of the key features we’ve retained, and we’ve enhanced them. The designs evolved to reflect the findings of the community engagement.
“A key feature is the change to the amphitheatre area, which we feel is going to be a really recognisable element. That’s the main connection across the road from the High Street, enabling you to get to the riverside.
“That space will most of the time be a nice seating area, a place for you to spend time. But the times when we have events on, that’s going to create this great stage for events.
“There’s some real detailed work to be done around those things that are going to make the park stand out with the play area, artistic installations and points of interests around the park. The central part of the site will be a large play area. The focus of that will be primarily for families, younger children and younger people. In the riverside area, probably more adventurous play.
“That’s the next stage of the detailed design. We’ve got specialist play equipment designers on board and it will be bespoke designed equipment, a new design that reflects the characteristics of the site.
“We’re really trying to break down the barrier between the High Street and the riverside. It’ll create a much larger riverside area. It will allow you to move seamlessly between the High Street and the riverside, which is a long-held aspiration for us an authority to capitalise on that natural asset.”
Cllr Cooke adds: “It’s about the connectivity from where the Castlegate used to be to the waterside. People have used the term ‘urban park.’ This is really about creating Stockton’s waterfront.
“You can walk from the High Street without having to negotiate over a road and you can walk straight down to the waterfront.
“You’ll be able to see the south end of the High Street. There’s some great historic buildings there.
“Finkle Street is a hidden gem. It’s been hidden away by Castlegate since the late 1960s. That’s going to be opened up and there’s going to be a square there.
“The heritage is really important. We’re not trying to build a park and erase the past. We’re looking back and taking the opportunity to celebrate some of that heritage. You can’t bring back what was there, but you can certainly pay homage to it in the design.”
Spaces will accommodate markets, events and community activities at the new “Finkle Square”. Mr Robinson says of the market, moved in January 2021: “We’ve moved the retail focus to the north side of the High Street around Wellington Square. We’ve moved the market to sit alongside that main retail focal point.
“There are opportunities for us to accommodate a market or part of the market at the site. (But) the market will stay where it is, is the plan. There’s no plan to move it.”
Cllr Cooke said: “There was a lot of conversation with market traders in getting the market in the right place. We think it’s been a positive move.
“This gives us more space. Stockton market’s still the largest outdoor market in the north of England...To have extra space on the waterfront park to facilitate that is a really welcome thing.”