The Central Area Masterplan aims to guide future development of the town centre by defining and setting within a strong urban design framework the main physical changes that are required to correct the causes of underperformance and to deliver on the jobs and housing targets included in the Core Strategy Development Plan Document.
'Towards a Strong Urban Renaissance' (Urban Task Force 2005) emphasises that design excellence is an essential element in delivering sustainable urban regeneration. Urban neighbourhoods to be successful need to be safe and attractive places to live and work if they are to compete effectively to host footloose businesses and a vibrant population. The role of the public realm in creating such places is crucial. The creation of an improved public realm is at the heart of realising the Masterplan's objectives:
- to unite the functional areas of the town centre by overcoming severance
- to define and reinforce the town centre’s pedestrian circuits and hierarchies
- to provide legibility in terms of use and pedestrian footfall and links between secondary streets and principal footfalls
- to define and reinforce the different character areas in the town centre
- to punctuate the extended length of the High Street with imaginative urban landmarking
- to provide a series of interlinked public spaces (new and re-landscaped):
- to celebrate the town centre’s position overlooking the seafront