(Lennystan, Shutterstock)
A public consultation on long-term plans to reshape North Lanarkshire’s eight town centres has been launched.
It comes as part of North Lanarkshire Council’s wider plan to invest over £3.5 billion into the constituency over the next decade – creating around 12,000 jobs and boosting the local economy by an estimated additional £1 billion.
The six week consultation begins today (February 24) with an interactive virtual room and survey for each town centre. Visions for the various centres include ideas around housing, local services, retail opportunities, business development, and leisure and green space.
Pamela Humphries, head of planning and regeneration at North Lanarkshire Council, said, “The way people use town centres has changed over time, as a result of developments like online shopping and out-of-town outlets, so we need to identify a new future for our traditional town centres.
“Our vision is to use town centres for a variety of purposes, not just shopping. With more people living within town centres, they become busier during the day and evening, so we plan to encourage the conversion of existing unused building into housing as well as building new homes.
“We want to improve the way public services are accessed and encourage more use of town centres for leisure. This will be done through town or community hubs, where education is delivered alongside other council and community services. We also want to improve active travel links between communities to reduce the reliance on cars.
“Each vision is designed around the individual character, heritage and facilities of our existing town centres, so we want to hear the opinions of local people on their town vision and help us make North Lanarkshire the best place to live, learn, work, invest and visit.”
