The leader of Stafford Borough Council has spoken out to reassure town centre businesses that more positive changes will be seen soon.
In an exclusive interview, Councillor Aidan Godfrey has told Daily Focus that the town’s regeneration plans are going “really well” with contracts to purchase the Guildhall Shopping Centre signed and exchanged last week – and the deal to buy the derelict former Co-op site set to be completed “imminently”.
Independent traders in Stafford town centre have previously issued a ‘use us or lose us’ warning to visitors amid concerns about footfall and the closure of some shops.
Cllr Godfrey says plans for the two sites, a multi-million-pound Stafford Station Gateway project to build new homes, businesses and a multi-storey car park on disused land and £500,000 of work to improve the approach and entrance to Stafford Station will all help to bring more people into the town.
The plans follow the reopening of the town’s Market Square after undergoing a £1 million renovation last year.
He said: “It is an exciting time for Stafford. We are really pushing forward with all our plans and they are going really well.
“We are conscious of the fact that we are the county town, not just the centre of the borough, so we are really looking forward to doing all these projects and getting them underway. Stafford will be a county town that everybody in the county can be proud of.
“Things will change fairly quickly. The town centre two years from now will be a very different place, a more vibrant place.”
Proposals for the former Co-op site, which has been empty for over 10 years, include converting it into a mix of retail and residential use, with a food court and market.
A business case with potential uses for the shopping centre site is yet to be drawn up, but the public will be asked for feedback before planning permission is sought. The council will be looking for a developer for this site.
Stafford Town Centre Partnership (STCP) has recently been relaunched to help shape plans for the town centre and Cllr Godfrey regards a new £18 million Institute of Technology for Newcastle and Stafford Colleges Group’s Stafford College being built on part of the Gateway site and the £28 million skills and innovation centre completed in the town last year as “very important”.
He said: “We really want to attract young people to stay, work, live and play here. This will keep young people here and business will come here because the expertise are here.”
Speaking about the wider borough, he said he is keen to encourage other businesses into areas such as Redhill on the outskirts of Stafford.
Cllr Godfrey said: “We are going to be out there to sell Stafford Borough, encourage business here and encourage people to live here. We will make it a vibrant, happy place to live, which it actually is at the moment but we will make it more so.
“We have got so many advantages over other areas. We have two junctions on the M6, we are an hour from four international airports, which is pretty unique, and when we consider rail links, we have excellent links to the south east and the north west and we are only an hour and 20 minutes from London.
“That’s appealing for those living here but we want people to move their businesses out of London and come to Stafford. We’re looking at government departments, back offices of big international businesses, why not live in Stafford?”
Cllr Godfrey has said any current businesses in the borough with queries, or who are looking for support, can contact the council.
Information about grants available to businesses is available here.
All very well spending a fortune on encouraging people to come into Stafford with a fancy new station, but there’s nothing here to keep them interested. If it was me I’d get straight back on the train and go elsewhere. We need to be bringing new shops, different shops, to the town centre before we start spending money elsewhere. It’s like walking through a ghost town these days. The new market square is bland and boring, and doesn’t really bring anything to the town.
Then only thing we are good for is as a commuter town!
Are these the people responsible for the roads?