Plans to redevelop part of central Bath as a destination for fashion and culture, including providing a new home for the city’s world-leading Fashion Museum, have won approval from the public.
An informal consultation on the Milsom Quarter Masterplan held from May to July found strong support for the scheme, particularly for new homes in the area, including turning unused space above shops into flats.
Bath & North East Somerset Council (B&NES) – which has described the masterplan as a vision for the next 20 years – believes the relocated museum, regarded as internationally significant, will be key for the recovery of Bath’s pandemic-hit tourism sector as well as acting as a catalyst for the transformation of the surrounding area into a new fashion quarter, attracting high-end retailers and workspaces for creative businesses as well as 180 new homes.
The museum closed last week after being based in the Assembly Rooms since 1963. The council plans to move it across the city centre to the Old Post Office on the corner of New Bond Street and Northgate Street, pictured below, creating a focal point for the wider Milsom Street redevelopment area stretching from George Street in the north to Upper Borough Walls in the south, and west from Queen Square to the Cattlemarket car park.
A total of 220 responses were received in the public consultation, with 68% of respondents strongly agreeing or agreeing with the vision for the Milsom Quarter.
The provision of new homes, including above shops, was strongly agreed or agreed with by 71% while 70% strongly agreed or agreed with the vision for the Milsom Quarter as a place for creativity and enterprise including the provision of new workspace.
Some 65% strongly agreed or agreed with idea of connecting the city centre with Walcot Street and providing space for businesses linked to food and drink, beauty and wellbeing and interiors linking to Walcot’s artisan offer, with 61% approving of giving priority to walking, cycling and public transport in the Milsom Quarter while maintaining vehicular access when needed and improving streets and spaces through public realm improvements.
Making the Milsom Quarter greener, with more plants and trees and a range of projects to improve energy efficiency and generate and store renewable energy, was backed by 77% of respondents.
Primary concerns raised by those taking part focused on the accessibility and movement element of the Masterplan as well as some respondents wanting to better understand delivery, phasing and timeframes.
B&NES cabinet member for economic development, regeneration & growth, Cllr Mark Roper, said: “The Milsom Quarter Masterplan is a long-term vision to regenerate the north of the city by providing more homes for the community, attracting more businesses and visitors and positioning the area as a fashion destination including the Fashion Museum.
“It’s a significant and wide-ranging plan which will also improve the public realm for everybody and make it safer and easier to travel on foot or by wheel.”
The Fashion Museum relocation project will also create a new archive in Locksbrook to house much of its collection.
The council is aiming for both to open in three to eight years’ time, depending on fundraising. To help deliver the project, the council has submitted a £20m bid to the government’s Levelling Up Fund to help complete the £37m project.
