What has changed?
Since we presented our initial proposals, there have been significant changes to the town centre itself, and to how town centres are responding post-COVID, including:
Changes in the way in which people use their town centres and the shift to more home working and less commuting generally resulting in lower numbers of people visiting town centres.
Demand for more open greener space in town centres and better access to walking and cycle routes.
Removal of the flyover and its implications for access to the High Street and traffic movements along Greens Way.
New funding opportunities for renewal and improvement of town centres. If successful this could result in millions of pounds of investment to help build the masterplan projects.
For these reasons we felt that it was important to revisit and review the masterplan proposals to ensure that the current circumstances are reflected. This second round of consultation therefore ensures your views on the changes can be further considered.
What you told us: 1
We listened to your views in early 2021, and since then we have been considering how best to respond to them in our updated proposals. This has involved changes to the designs, additional studies to understand impacts or concerns about the proposals, or further discussion to find solutions that will work for all.
| What you told us | How we have responded |
| Celebration of Mexborough’s heritage to be made more prominent, including refurbishment of old and empty buildings. | There is more of an emphasis on historic buildings and the conservation area, with architectural and feasibility studies being undertaken on Montagu Chambers. |
| Improved safety, and evening economy. | Exploring ways safety and activity can be improved especially in evenings. |
| A wider variety of shops and amenities especially for children and young people, more people using the town centre. | Exploring opportunities to improve the town centre offer with a wider range of uses and amenities to generate footfall. |
| Little opposition to proposals overall, but some concerns expressed about changes to Greens Way. | More detailed modelling and investigations into the impact of changes to Greens Way, and opportunities to improve access / safety / active travel / and the quality of place. |
| A desire for more housing in the town centre but not at the expense of removing shops. | Exploring further potential residential development sites around the town centre. |
| The need to maintain vehicle access and car parking but improve access for other modes – walking, cycling, bus. | Transport and access study undertaken by Arup for more understanding of car park usage, with projects to improve access to and from the railway station and town centre by all modes of movement. |
| A desire for a more inclusive and accessible public realm with better maintenance, more greenery and provision for cyclists | Developing targeted streetscape projects which will help achieve these aims and improve the look and feel of the town centre. |
What you told us - Levelling Up Fund (LUF) Application
Prior to this engagement during June 2022 we ran another online engagement with project ideas for the LUF application which was submitted to the Government in July 2022. If successful, the bid could bring in over £12million of funding from central Government, and this would be supplemented by over £2million local funding by Doncaster Council. However there is no guarantee the Government will provide this funding given the state of the economy. Whilst delivering key aspects of the plan will be a challenge without LUF, the Council are committed to looking at all possible funding options to deliver the plan in the future.
In addition over £10million from the Mayoral Combined Authority has been earmarked for transport improvements, to help deliver some of the projects in this plan, including £2.8m secured by the Mayor specifically for new bus interchange facilities in Mexborough Town Centre.
The LUF engagement included some of the key projects in this draft masterplan. The feedback from the engagement was overall positive in relation to the projects we suggested and gave us further feedback on the priorities for the community. The results are summarised below.
Artist's impression of a transformed Montague Chambers accompanied by public realm improvements to Bank Street (left). Artists impression of a new park at Bank Street (right). Click to enlarge.
Mexborough Town Centre Regeneration project (received 429 responses) – an 81% positivity rating with 8% indicating a negative view. Priority elements were investment in the Market Hall, street scene improvements, refurbishment of Red Lion, and the redevelopment of Montagu Chambers.
