KET2 Town Centre (Land Use)
This policy idea provides a high-level spatial approach to ensuring that the defined town centre fulfils its role as a core retail focus for the wider town but also functions as its social and community heart; a place to bring people together to work, shop, visit and live.
It will define the vision to create a mixed-use town centre, incorporating retail, commercial, culture, leisure, hospitality, residential uses (including potentially live/work units) in a more verdant, accessible and sustainable setting with a focus on wellbeing.
Kettering Town Centre is a traditional market town that will be boosted by the redevelopment of key flagship buildings and locations. With more people living in and around the town centre and with the development of Hanwood Park, the town should be able to maintain the number of retail units in the High Street and primary shopping areas.
Additional high quality cultural and social spaces will encourage creativity and community, more multiuse flexible and attractive public realm spaces designed for different uses at different times of the day, building on the success of Market Place, will encourage more people to visit and stay longer. The community are also keen to promote high quality public art within these spaces.
The Kettering Area Action Plan in 2011 defines the Town Centre. Within this space it also identifies a Primary Shopping Area and primary and secondary shopping frontages contained within. It is proposed that using the existing definitions as a starting point, the policy looks to define the appropriate land uses within the respective locations to guide future development, help increase footfall and repurpose where there is an overprovision of retail or under provision of other uses, or where a more dynamic mix may be appropriate.
The policy idea is to start a conversation about renewal and future development of these areas, determining the sense of identity in each and whether that should be protected to reflect the historic development of Kettering.
This discussion will need to focus on the consequences of future development on this jigsaw puzzle of spaces and locations and how they fit together. Where may residential development be appropriate and where should it be avoided?
Once this is understood the policy area can develop to consider defining how each area should develop, for example in some areas, encouraging the retention of ground floors in active commercial use and discouraging changes of use on the ground floor of main high street frontages to residential uses may be appropriate.
The policy can also develop to seek support improvements to public realm spaces which will encourage a longer dwell time, including play and entertainment. For some areas this may also seek to encourage and stimulate the evening economy and protect the economic viability of the area.
Identifying and safeguarding arrangement of parking and improving access to the central areas of the town through active travel options (See KET11) will help bolster its future success, especially with the development of Hanwood Park.