The indoor market in Stevenage town centre can be used by North Herts College for its engineering and construction students, councillors have agreed.
Stevenage Borough Council’s planning committee decided to grant permission for a change of use at their meeting yesterday (Monday, July 21).
The ground floor indoor market, which opened in 1973, will move into a nearby unit called Boston House in Park Place. Work is already underway to prepare the unit for traders to move in.
St George’s Way multi-storey car park, above the indoor market, will remain as it is.
North Herts College will use the current indoor market as an engineering campus, including a number of workshops and classrooms.
Richard Grenfell, who spoke on behalf of North Herts College at yesterday’s meeting, said their existing engineering and construction campus at Fulton Close is no longer “financially viable”.
Mr Grenfell said: “This scheme is vital to ensuring that high-quality construction and engineering education remains at the heart of Stevenage, supporting hundreds of students annually in key sectors, such as plumbing, motor vehicles maintenance, bricklaying and carpentry.
“This proposal is an opportunity to retain and enhance a regionally significant educational facility in Stevenage.”
Councillors agreed to grant planning permission, but only with a condition requiring more information about cycle parking before work begins.
Council officers said in their report that no cycle storage is included in the proposal – but Mr Grenfell said space for up to 24 bicycles would be added in an internal storage area.
Jill Borcherds, who spoke on behalf of Cycling UK Stevenage, questioned the amount of parking included in the plans, and warned that the site will not be easily accessible by bicycle.
She said: “Students will not use the only legal route on the actual St George’s Way dual carriageway.
“They will ride where they feel safe.
“They will ride the wrong way down the one-way streets.
“They will ride through Town Centre Gardens.
“They will ride through the town centre.
“When the college moves to the site, you are teaching young people that to make things work, to stay safe, you need to break rules.”
Planning officers noted that there are 10 existing cycle parking spaces in the multi-storey car park, and claimed the site is “easily accessible by foot and bicycle”.
Covering Hertfordshire’s district and borough councils.
