Stevenage regeneration: Council sign off on SG1 masterplan

In a decision notice dated May 30, 2023, Stevenage Borough Council has signed off on the SG1 masterplan.

According to the masterplan, developers will “redefine Stevenage as a destination” with a promise to build a “sustainable, forward-facing, mixed-use development which encapsulates the town’s ‘New Town spirit'”.

Buildings could emerge across 10 plots in and around Town Square – including the former Swingate House which collapsed in March 2022, the existing town offices and the former bus station.

The decision follows several years of work and discussions with local authorities.

Read more

• Stevenage: Sports Direct could move into empty Roaring Meg shop
• Stevenage: TK Maxx to relocate to Roaring Meg in June 2023

Outline plans were first handed to Stevenage Borough Council’s planning team in December 2019.

The SG1 masterplan sets out: “It is recognised that town centres across the United Kingdom are undergoing dynamic, often negative changes, leading to high vacancy levels and a deteriorating urban fabric.

“The extent and nature of [these] interventions to the townscape and landscape will result in positive impacts that will extend past its boundaries, improving dwell time in the town centre and redefining Stevenage as a destination”.

If the plans are built in full, 1,867 new homes would be created, with just over 3,500 square metres of retail and commercial floorspace included in the proposals, as well as an increased number of public squares, a new park, and space for a school.

More than 1,300 homes would be one-bed properties, with 461 proposed two-bed flats and 99 three-beds.

SG1 would be divided into five “unique character areas”.

The Northern Quarter would be a “new residential quarter a stone’s throw from the train station” with new shops, bars and restaurants.

A proposed Stevenage Boulevard where the borough council office is now would “extend the town’s pedestrian environment to create a vibrant new shopping street, encouraging a spill-out of activity and dining”.

Next-door, Garden Square would become a new one-stop shop for public services, while Danestrete, which used to be the bus station access road, would become a “quiet residential quarter offering a range of starter homes and family housing”.

A new Southgate Park would feature “enhanced” natural landscaping for town centre living.

“The proposed building massing has been carefully considered to sensitively respond to the existing context, respectfully limit the impact to daylight, sunlight, overshadowing and overlooking, and maximise the potential of the site and its unique town centre location,” the masterplan adds.

“New retail food and beverage and commercial spaces aim to enhance the town’s existing offer, creating new investment opportunities and a step-change in the town’s leisure, dining and workplace opportunities.”

According to Stevenage Borough Council’s planning website, the authority received seven comments of support, and five in opposition.

One of the opponents who lives in Swingate said: “This plan will turn Stevenage, already not a pretty part of the country, into a commuter sleeping town in which no-one will take care of the local environment.”

Another, in Vista Tower, complained at the scale of the project – with plans for a maximum 19-storey landmark building in the Southgate Park area.

They wrote: “This is atrocious. Look at the sheer size of the building.”

One of the scheme’s supporters is Stevenage Football Club.

In a letter to council planners, The Boro welcomed prospects of “an enhanced pre and post-match experience in the town centre, for both home and away supporters attending our fixtures”.

The planning process is not fully completed.

Only the plans for plot A – an area of Swingate Car Park and the former Swingate House – and plot K – the former police building in Southgate – have full planning permission.

These will feature 760 homes and act “as a catalyst for future phases which will deliver new homes, in addition to retail and commercial floorspace”.

Detailed designs for the remaining plots will need to be considered by the council in the future.

Stevenage was chosen to become the first new town under the New Towns Act 1946.

Queen Elizabeth II opened the first phase of the town centre 64 years ago, on a visit to Hertfordshire on April 20, 1959.

The Town Square features the Grade II-listed Clock Tower and pool, which was completed by 1959.

According to its official listing by Heritage England, “the Town Square lies at the heart of the first extensive pedestrian-only New Town centre in Britain, the layout of which was modelled on the Lijnbaan, Rotterdam”.