Memorandum submitted by Prima 200
1. Prima 200, the Local Improvement Finance
Trust company for North Staffordshire, worked in partnership with
British Waterways to develop a mixed use scheme incorporating
a primary care centre and residential, on a site owned and controlled
by British Waterways adjacent to the Coldon Canal in the Shelton
area of Stoke on Trent.
2. British Waterways demonstrated their
commitment from the outset to encourage and facilitate a development
that would act as a primer for further regeneration in the area.
At the point of determining how to use the land in their ownership,
British Waterways made a clear choice which demonstrated that
commitment. The choice was to ignore the easier and potentially
quicker option of creating a single use residential scheme on
the site, in favour of a mixed use development incorporating a
2,854 sqm primary care centre. Their motivation was to be instrumental
a project that was more beneficial to the local community.
3. They recognised early on that the development
was an opportunity to ensure the development would not "turn
its back" on the adjacent canal but incorporate it in the
scheme's design to seize the regeneration opportunities, not only
to improve the local area but to create something that the local
community would embrace.
4. By taking the lead in submitting and
running the single, comprehensive planning application for the
development, British Waterways drove the scheme forward and ensured
that our mutual ambitions to achieve a positive regeneration outcome
were realised.
5. During the construction phase of the
development, British Waterways continued to offer support wherever
possible. This support was demonstrated by their willingness to
allow the primary care centre contractor to use their undeveloped
site for car parking and equipment storage in order to ease access
for local residents.
6. In conclusion, Prima 200 found British
Waterways a willing and proactive organisation to work with and
one that is wholeheartedly committed to regeneration. This relationship
has now resulted in the development of a significant primary care
facility serving a patient population of 15,000, in an area that
was in desperate need of expanded and improved healthcare provision
and development that demonstrates confidence through significant
investment.
Prima 200
March 2008
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