19 July 2026
Revitalising Buxton
HPK/2026/0228
I visited the last presentation of the plans, and people’s biggest complaint, of course was Car Parking, where is it and how many spaces. It was thought there would be about 200 spaces. This needs to be clarified.
Housing, it is said there would be over 300 flats. Blocks of flats have no place in any Town Centre, no matter how much Capital might gloss them up, they are still Blocks of Flats. Visitors do not want to sit and look at these. Where are the renters going to park their cars?
I believe the Student flats, behind the Railway Hotel, are still empty. Almost all shops in Spring Gardens have one or two floors vacant. Also Eagle Parade, on the market place have vacant units. All these could be refurbished to provide rental accommodation.
Now the Council have said they could provide extra parking on vacant Railway Ground, after 30+ years of saying it was not suitable for anything. This is too far from the Town Centre for Elderly people, Wheel chair people, and families of young children and push chairs. Instead build the proposed blocks of flats on this site. It could also be an ideal place for the Library, Museum, Council Offices, with the flats above.
Now the Town Hall is set to be closed, interested parties have suggested that it could be used to provide the Library or Museum. With the above named buildings removed from the plan, to other proposed places, this frees up the area for the required car parking, multi story to save ground space, available for planted area, seating etc. and also retail units aimed at smaller independent traders.
As for the river, leave it where it is, at the bottom of a Ten foot gulley, not worth the cost. Cover it over, and build some of the retail units on it, as suggested years ago.
Why is the Station Approach not included in the plan. This is the Main Entry into the town, from the Station area. Suitably tidied up, shrubs, trees cut back – removed, Modern non slip pedestrian path surface, some flower bed seating. and with the Old Shop units removed, would make a nice entry into the Shopping Centre. Also if a Town Plan of the Crescent, Slopes, Opera House, Pavilion Gardens, with appropriate signage to these places, was erected towards the bottom of Station Approach, this would help guide visitors where to go. This would eliminate the need for the expense of lifts, slopes being built to get people down to the shops level.
As there are now other building areas becoming available some of the new buildings could be removed from the plan, and moved to these other areas. These must be seriously considered before moving on. You must at this stage put a STOP/HOLD on this plan, Step back take a good look at what is on offer and the FINAL RESULT, anything wrong cannot be altered later. I do not believe this is what the general public expected, from my visit to the Pavilion Display. Very few people had anything good to say about it. The display was Very Poor, small size plans, Artists views of the New Builds NO reference at all, as to what the buildings were, or where they were on the plans.
What needs to be done now is for you to arrange for some LARGE SCALE PLANS of the site, to be put on display around the town, Empty shop units, Town Hall, Gardens, Library etc along with forms for public’s opinions of what they think.
These plans must have all new Buildings clearly marked. Car parking, access points, collections, deliveries, taxis, Toilets etc. nothing left off.
This project will cost an enormous amount of money, plus overspend, as always happens. It will not Benefit the town very little, if at all, with 2/3 YRS TOTAL DISRUPTION.
Take time to reconsider these plans, is it what the majority of the public really want. There are other options as I have mentioned. It cannot be approved by a small number of planners unless they are 100% convinced that a very large percentage of the public want it.
TAKE TIME – TAKE CARE
The Final Result cannot be altered