Newport city centre masterplan revealed

Newport City Council’s fifth City Summit was held at the Celtic Manor Resort earlier today, where the authority revealed its new city centre masterplan.

The plan splits the city centre into three main areas each containing a number of important key sites, setting out developments and improvements which will be carried out between the next three and eight years.

The first, the Northern Gateway, encompasses the Indoor Market, Market Arcade, the former sorting office in Mill Street and the Cambrian Centre.

The second, dubbed the City Core, contains the Westgate Hotel, the Chartist Tower, the Newport Centre, the row of buildings in Commercial Street, including the former Hornblower pub, which is currently being demolished, and Knowledge Quarter, comprising the University of South Wales’ city campus.

The third area, Riverside, covers Clarence Tower, Clarence Place, the Crown Buildings and Rodney Parade.

Introducing the masterplan at today's event, council leader Cllr Debbie Wilcox said: “Much has already been achieved in the heart of Newport but much remains to be done.

“We need positive and constructive contributions.”

She added: “Confidence is growing in our city and we need to do everything we can to capitalise on that.”

Saying “We have a rich history, but we have an exciting future,” she urged attendees to take part in a consultation into the plan, which will run until Monday, March 5.

The council’s strategic director for place Beverly Owen also spoke at the event, where she set out the plan in more detail.

Ms Owen said developments in the pipelines including the South Wales Metro, the planned scrapping of the Severn bridge tolls later this year and current building work in Llanwern put the city “at the crest of a wave” and it was important opportunities to capitalise were not missed.

On plans to revamp the Indoor Market, she said: “It is clear the market has to become a focus of the council’s attention”.

She also said rents for office space in Newport are lower than in nearby Bristol or Cardiff, but the city is lacking ‘grade A’ office space, and called on businesses to work to remedy the situation.

And she said making full use of some of the historic buildings within the City Core area such as the Westgate Hotel and the Chartist Tower was a key part of the masterplan.

But she said the Newport Centre is currently in need of work predicted to cost around £10 million, and said the council would need to “look at how it fits in the Knowledge Quarter”. She urged those taking part in the consultation to put forward views and ideas for the future of the centre.

The masterplan also sets out its goals through six objectives including making Newport “a welcoming city” by providing a more “inviting environment” and more information for visitors, improving public transport as well as walking and cycle links and ensuring it catered for people in both the day and the night.

The masterplan also aims to restore vacant buildings and make more use of “key assets”, make the most of the riverside through activities and events and form “a distinctive public realm” to attract people from within the city and further afield.

The council’s chief executive Will Godfrey also spoke at yesterday’s event, and said about the importance of Newport’s role in the £1.2 billion Cardiff Capital Region City Deal. The deal is a collaboration of ten local authorities in south east Wales, also including Monmouthshire, Torfaen, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly, with the aim of increasing investment in the region.

Saying “2018 is absolutely a year of opportunity”, Mr Godfrey said: “That is a really massive opportunity for us as a city we need to take advantage of.

“We are self-evidently becoming a more attractive place for investors to do business.”

According to the masterplan document work will be funded “via a range of public and private sector routes”.

Rodney Parade looking to the future

RODNEY Parade will play a key role in the further development of Newport as an attractive place to visit, the Dragons chairman David Buttress said at yesterday’s summit.

Mr Buttress, who took up the role last September, said a number of changes were in the pipeline both within the Dragons and at Rodney Parade, and he hoped Newport and the region as a whole would benefit.

“Ultimately sport is about winning, and there’s no shame in that,” says Mr Buttress.

“I absolutely believe we should be a winning sporting franchise.

“I have no desire to get involved in this to get hammered away in the Irish regions.”

“In five year’s time we want to be the lighthouse for how professional rugby operates.

“I want other regions to look at us and say ‘wow, that’s a well-run club’.”

He added he would like to see more use made of the stadium for the good of the city as a whole, pointing out its conference suites and bars are usually closed in the evening when the city centre is busy.

City is playing key role in technology development

ATTENDEES at yesterday’s City Summit also heard about Newport’s role in the development of state-of-the-art new technologies.

As part of the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal, Newport is to become home to a new facility developing compound semiconductors.

Director of the compound semiconductor centre Wyn Meredith and Damon Rands of cyber security company Wolfberry spoke about the city’s role in the sector at yesterday’s summit.

Mr Rands said: “We need to start businesses in Newport and keep them there. We don’t want to do all the hard work and have them move elsewhere.”

A cyber security academy at the University of South Wales is also in its first academic year.

And, speaking at the summit, the university’s head of cyber security Clare Johnson said: “What’s really exciting is we feel we are at the centre of developing that new talent to go into those businesses. The future for Newport is really exciting.”

Take part in the consultation at newport.gov.uk/haveyoursay

- What do you think of the masterplan? Let us know via newsdesk@southwalesargus.co.uk