Take a look at the future March high street as redevelopment work is …
Work is underway to make March[1] town centre “fit for the future”, with Broad Street already being churned up by diggers. This is part of an £8.4 million project, which has already seen changes made to Market Place.
The Broad Street section of the project is being delivered by Cambridgeshire County Council[2]. It will involve the controversial movement of the Grade II listed Coronation Fountain[3] from the top of Broad Street to “an accessible public space”.
The fountain, which commemorates the coronation of King George V in 1911, is expected to be moved by October 2024. A changed road layout on Station Road – which joins Broad Street – should be in temporary use from June 2024. New paving will also be laid and new bike racks, seats, planters and trees will be put in place.
Artist’s impression of how Broad Street will look to the south (Image: Fenland District Council)
Funding of £4.2 million for the project is from the county’s March area study, while the March Future High Streets fund programme has provided £3.6 million and the Cambridgeshire[6] and Peterborough[7] Combined Authority’s towns fund has given £2 million.
The March Future High Streets project also includes the regeneration of Market Place, which started on January 9 and took 12 weeks to finish. Infrastructure was put in place so that electric vehicle charging points could be installed in the future, drainage problems were addressed, new paving was laid and the car park layout was changed to allow bays to be made wider.
A third aim of the project is to support people to let properties to businesses. Fenland District Council has gained funding to pay up to 95 per cent of the cost of capital works on vacant buildings to bring them up to standard, so they can be let.
Work taking place to transform Broad Street in March (Image: Siobhan Middleton)
The funding is limited, so the council will choose which buildings to invest in. The council is inviting property owners to contact them.
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References
- ^ March (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Cambridgeshire County Council (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ controversial movement of the Grade II listed Coronation Fountain (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Town clerk compares ‘beautiful’ Christmas tree to Leaning Tower of Pisa (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ ‘Absolutely absurd’: Controversial plans to build 70 homes in Fenland town (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Cambridgeshire (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ Peterborough (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
- ^ You can also sign up to our dedicated Peterborough, Traffic and Crime newsletters for the latest updates on the topics you are most interested in. (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)