THE Nottingham business community is being invited to comment on the Sneinton Market & Eastside Gateway Neighbourhood Development Plan – now that it is available to view on line.

The plan can be found at http://www.nottinghamregeneration.ltd.uk/downloads.html  where there is a short survey for people to leave their comments on the various visions of the plan.

Last week there were a series of events led by Danish architects Gehl which was appointed to produce the plan. The events focussed on the vision for the future regeneration of Sneinton Market and the Eastside Gateway for the next ten to 15 years.

The plan was commissioned by Nottingham Regeneration Limited (NRL), in partnership with Nottingham City Council and Blueprint.  Gehl Architects was chosen to produce a Neighbourhood Development Plan centred on Sneinton Market and a wider area identified as the eastside “gateway” in to the city centre.

The plan is now on line so that many more people can leave their feedback, which must be done by 18 July. NRL and its partners will consider the feedback before making final amendments to the plan.

Marc Cole, chief executive of NRL, said: “Events and community meetings were held for people to see the visions for themselves and make their comments. There has been a long consultation process with the public – and business leaders – to ensure that we get the right ideas for the area. There was good feedback at the events last week. We now hope that now the plan is on line, that we will gain further interest from people who want to know more – and comment on – the plan.

“The purpose of the Neighbourhood Development Plan is to provide a comprehensive strategy for the physical, social and economic regeneration of this area over the next ten to 15 years. The plan is not about comprehensive redevelopment instead it sets out a long term vision to secure the regeneration and renewal of the area.”

At the events, Nottingham City Council consulted on its Turning Point East proposal to provide an integrated transport plan which will regenerate the whole city - including Sneinton Market and the east side – by looking at creating “joined up” transport solutions in the area.

The Neighbourhood Development Plan identifies four potential catalytic development opportunities which would start the area’s renewal. Some of the ideas could be developed in the short term, while others would be for the future.

Jon Silver of ARC4, the consultancy firm working with Gehl Architects, said: “We gained good feedback at our consultation events last week. In particular, business leaders were particularly interested in what Gehl had to say about the regeneration of the area.”

Coun Alan Clark, portfolio holder for Neighbourhood Regeneration, Nottingham City Council, said:  "Neighbourhood Regeneration is a priority for the City Council and this Plan provides a vision for the regeneration of this area.”

Gehl is experienced creating public space and human scale environments throughout Europe and around the world. The plan identifies opportunities to enhance existing public space, to create new high quality environment which will provide a destination that invites people to visit the area. It also identifies the opportunity to improve the pedestrian links between Hockley and Sneinton Market. The Plan sees Sneinton Market as the new “beating heart” of the Eastside and a bridge between the communities of St Ann’s and Sneinton and the city centre.

Regeneration opportunities include the Victoria Leisure Centre and adjoining Brook Street area, Sneinton Market, the former Albany works site in Carlton Road and the Lower Parliament Street bus depot site. The plan presents a vision for these sites, however further work needs to be undertaken on each of these sites to develop the vision into deliverable schemes.

Delivery of each of the potential development opportunities will involve different stages and each contains different challenges for the partners to address. The partners will work with private land owners and the community and other stakeholders to move this vision to the next stage.