A jewel in the North West’s crown, historic Chester is on the brink of huge change. But, as the much anticipated Northgate Development hangs in the balance, Liza Williams assesses whether the city’s future is lying in the shadow of its past

WITH its characteristic walls and picturesque Rows, famous racecourse and quaint shopping streets, Chester is deemed by many as an affluent and prosperous city which successfully capitalises on its historic assets.

But as Cheshire’s county town enters a period of development, it is battling with problems that could jeopardise its future and threaten its status as a must-see destination for visitors.

The city’s £400m flagship new construction project, the Northgate Development, has been delayed as a result of the global credit crunch and financial constraints on developer ING.

The plans, originally aired in 2002, promise the city 60 shops including a House of Fraser, a new library, market and performing arts centre.

It is feared the development could be scrapped all together, leaving parts of the city centre derelict.

The city council is currently negotiating a rescue package with ING, and the developer hopes it will be legally signed off this autumn.

The scheme is joined by an unprecedented amount of hotels in the planning or building stage to enable more visitors, tourists and business people to stay in Chester, in turn spending money within the local economy.

But the concern is not enough money and thought is being pumped into the cultural offer, leaving visitors unable to engage in anything other than eating and drinking in the city’s restaurants and bars at night.

Chester currently has no theatre after the Gateway was closed last year to make way for the Northgate Development, and there has been speculation the art centre plans may be scrapped to address the cost issues of the development.

Plans for the centre have now been submitted to the council, but it will still be delayed as the future of Northgate is decided.

The city centre’s only cinema, the Odeon, closed over a year ago and the new owner, Brook Group, which specialises in creating nightclubs and bars, is planning to turn it into a mixed-use development – with a wine bar, restaurant and shops.

A single screen cinema may be included, but as controversy continues, the beautiful art deco building lies empty and lifeless.

The city has one main museum, the Grosvenor, but no art gallery, neither are there any plans to create one.

With a limited amount of culture or variety in evening entertainment, many people are concerned about its future as a world-class, European city – the very thing it is trying to become.

Chester’s MP, Christine Russell, thinks the city needs to offer more after 5pm. She said: “We need to improve the cultural offer. Every successful European city uses culture as a catalyst for attracting people in, but in Chester it is just so limited.

“There is the occasional festival which is great but we need something constant since the loss of the Gateway.

‘PEOPLE come into the city, they go sight-seeing, go shopping, have a bite to eat, but then what?

“We need to provide more between the shoppers departing and the pubbers and clubbers coming in and put a greater emphasis on bringing culture back into the city centre.

“We also need to encourage coffee bars to stay open later and keep places like the library open so there are things keeping people in the city centre.

“We need to get local authorities to pay attention to what is happening after 5pm, as they do between 9am and 5pm.

“We need to make the most of Liverpool’s Capital of Culture and attract people to the city from there.

“There are so many great things in Chester but we need the whole package. Rail services to and from London have improved dramatically so people from the South can come here.

“The Northgate Development is central to continuing this improvement because the city really does need another department store.”

Opposition councillors recently held a protest, demanding the resignation of Chester’s ruling Tories, accusing the administration – which took power in 2007 – of “reducing Chester to a pile of rubble”.

One of their election promises was to ground plans for new council offices, dubbed the Glass Slug, on Gorse Stacks – part of the Northgate deal.

Paul Roberts, leader of the opposition, claims delays caused by the Tory administration have jeopardised the Northgate Development, but says all parties now need to pull together to try and save it: “Everybody is desperately hoping it will still go ahead.

“Had the Conservatives signed off the decision when they took over the administration, we would not be in this situation, but they delayed it for political reasons by messing around with the planned council offices.

“But we need to work together now to replace an area of Chester that has become run down.

“It is still a wonderful city with magnificent heritage but we need to get more people coming into the centre.”

But Chester’s ruling Conservatives say the delays were inevitable. Mike Jones, Portfolio holder for environment, said: “This development is very important for Chester’s regeneration and will bring a huge amount of expenditure in.

“We are working very hard to try and iron out problems caused by the credit crunch.

“It is a complete load of rubbish that our administration is to blame.

“The original date for sign-off was 2003, and the previous administration gave control of the time scales to ING.

“We cannot control global economic conditions.

“Other developments, such as the huge amount being invested into hotels, is great for the city – it creates jobs, will attract more visitors and mean the 6.5m day trippers will stay more often.

“The cultural offer needs attention and it is a pity there was no effort made by the previous administration to buy it.”

Politically, Chester’s status as Cheshire’s county town is also under threat. Local Government reorganisation will mean the county splitting into east and west councils next year, throwing up the question of whether another town, such as Winsford, should be the headquarters.

Cllr Roberts said: “It would be damaging for Chester, and obviously my view is the city is the best place for the council base.

“The Conservatives have not done us any favours, because now council office plans are up in the air.

“If the Gorse Stacks plans had gone ahead, we would have had a new functional building ready for the reorganised council.”

But Cllr Jones added: “It will not be a problem, we have six to eight suitable sites in mind and are flexible now, the needs of a newly structured council can be considered, unlike the Glass Slug, which was not wanted by the people of Chester.”

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