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Two new schemes added to Ipswich wish-list of projects
A wish-list for the future of Ipswich has been agreed – with two more projects added as a result of a public consultation.
IPSWICH & SUFFOLK | Projects and Construction
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I am glad they reconsidered on that project. £25m split into 15 is approx £1.66m which isn't a lot of money. Some projects such as the green route seem rather inexpensive. They really need to focus on around 7 projects with a little over £3.5m each. There is speculation that the university, college and the yacht centre projects are looking to be around £15m alone... the local shop fund is specified as £2m which leaves an average budget of £800k each for the other projects. But we know Arras Square won't be cheap and a partial funding of this will be a lot more than £800k. I am certain they will further shortlist the items and likely the government may decline some of the options. Just waiting for more information - a few sentences weren't much to go on!!
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Not a lot happing in Ipswich... that isn't depressing at least, If Debenhams goes, the town is done for as M&S will probably follow suit...
So for something a bit more optimistic, I thought I'd share a side project that has been in the works for years....
So for something a bit more optimistic, I thought I'd share a side project that has been in the works for years....
A brief update... the £25m has risen to around £28m. Not sure if it is a natural increase or whether some projects are expected to be rejected.
- The music venue, indoor market/foodhall and town centre health clinic have been dropped
- No updates by local press - they have replaced their website with a cheaper CMS and are closing their Ipswich office - the council has put the office on the market
- Town Regeneration Fund is £8.5m (retail to flats)
- Waterfront Park £4m ( a new Cornhill OMG)
- Local Shop Fund £3m
- Waterfront Cycle Bridge £1.4m
- Old Post Office £1.25m
- Arras Square £1.5m (don't understand this one, the council is about to collapse, yet they aren't requesting more funding for the town centre, instead will use the allocated funds as already budgeted)
- Town Centre events, lighting and sound £1m
- Integrated Care Academy (uni) £2.75m
- Tech Campus (college) £1m
- Yacht Building £1.25m
- Digital Town Centre £2.5m
- Ipswich Oasis £600k
- Bid has been submitted today 11/12/2020
Debenhams collapse (due to Arcadia hitting the wall) is fortunate for the local council. They were going to acquire the building for Debenhams... (they already secured a £1m advance from the towns fund - shows they wanted to move quickly on this) flats on top floor, music venue in the basement and offer Debenhams below market rent to keep them as an anchor store. Had it took another 6 months or a year, the council may have been left with a large empty department store and had to pay the business rates on it.
Apparently M&S owns their building but I do think they will offload the freehold if they had the chance to do so. The local council has been playing chess with M&S for a significant amount of time... they think they can out manoeuvre the retail giant. I am sure if pushed hard, they would withdraw from the area including the Martlesham Heath store (where Ipswich Borough Council is the landlord). The issue Ipswich has is locals aren't too big on Debenhams and M&S... but it attracts people from across Suffolk... losing Debenhams we will lose the more classier shopper (sad to say lol) and this means Superdry, Tessuti, and Deichmann etc will likely use their break clause. The frustrating thing for me is this will all be blamed on covid and brexit. The town has been going this way for a long time now.
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the worst of times141 - 147 of 147 Posts
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