By Henry Green
People in Mansfield have had their first chance to view and comment in detail on the planned £30 million redevelopment of the old Beales department store building.
Mansfield District Council wants to transform the site, previously home to Beales until 2020, by removing the two existing pedestrian bridges and renovating the building.
The plans also include the redevelopment of the courtyard on Queens Walk.
The building will host two councils and other services and providers, with today’s event (November 27) held in Mansfield’s Four Season’s shopping centre and offering the public a first look at the plans.
Geoff George, the Regeneration Programmes and Projects Manager at Mansfield District Council, hopes the project will “create a new vision for the town centre”.
“All of this will be right at the heart of the town centre so will really revitalise the town centre and bring significant footfall into the town centre,” he said.
“People are quite rightly challenging the council over some bigger issues that the town centre faces about vacant properties but working together with our partners we really think we can make a difference,” he added.
Mr George also added that the project is important for other businesses in the area.
“We recognise we are struggling with the decline of the High Street – we recognise that it is really important to support them and the project will bring significant footfall to help support existing shopping areas,” he said.
Councillor and portfolio holder for regeneration and growth at Mansfield District Council, Stuart Richardson, said the town hopes to improve on the 5.9 million people that have visited in the last year.
“Taking on the challenge of renovating the old Co-op building makes good sense as I say it will bring extra people in and the transport links will be so much better for people to access,” he said.
Cllr Richardson added he is “optimistic” about the project and said that Mansfield “could be a tourist destination”.
Shoppers in the town centre on Wednesday gave mixed views on the project and the future of the town centre.
Roseline Rose moved to Mansfield in the 1990’s when she says the town was “always busy” and now says the town has nothing there.
“There should be more shops really, why can’t they make a bigger market with more jobs and I’ve got to go to Chesterfield to do my shopping because there’s nothing here,” she said.
Derek Cooke a sales assistant from Clipstone said: “Something needs to be done because the town has no decent retail shops.
“Hopefully the project brings more people in to the town centre because a few years ago when they redesigned the market place everybody went and nobody came back,” he added.
The project has been in development since the building became derelict in 2020.
Residents can access the consultation online for the next two weeks, with work expected to start late next year.
