Our town centre masterplan pulls together current achievements, short-term ‘quick wins’ and longer term transformational investments. It builds upon what’s special about Warrington town centre – particularly its cultural assets and architecture, its locational advantages and its waterfronts and green spaces.
A number of key areas form the focus of the masterplan, including:
- Circular Parklands – enhancing the ‘green ring’ around the town centre.
- Rediscovering the River - developing areas orientated towards the river, ensuring attractive waterfront promenades with walking and cycling routes, enhancing and creating parks and open spaces and improving bridge crossings.
- Changing our main shopping streets – through cafes and restaurants with active frontages and outdoor eating, transforming former shops into new space for small businesses, converting vacant and underused commercial space into new homes and promoting pop-up spaces for temporary, colourful activities.
- A Place of Culture – reinforcing the town centre’s sense of place through new public spaces (Time Square and Riverfront Plaza), enhancing and pedestrianising routes, animating streets and spaces through alfresco dining, public art, street markets, events and festivals and further improving the offer of The Pyramid and Warrington Museum and Library.
- Town Centre Living - working with partners to deliver over 8,000 new homes in the heart of the town, and ensuring as many as possible are affordable for local people.
- A Focus for Business – making Warrington town centre a focus for new businesses and hotel development, focusing on four key locations – Stadium quarter, Bank Quay Rail Hub, Southern Gateway, Riverfront and Port Warrington.
- Keeping the town centre moving and connected – further enhancing Warrington’s transport network and connectivity, tackling congestion and promoting active travel as laid out in Warrington’s Fourth Local Transport Plan (LTP4), and delivering a National Rail Hub at Bank Quay train station, grasping the opportunities of HS2/West coast Main Line and Northern Powerhouse Rail.