A new town centre college, a community space and a cycle route: How £25m could be spent in Corby

Four new schemes using £25m of government money are being proposed for Corby.

The town was among 101 places which were last year named eligible for the Towns Fund by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

The pot, worth up to £25m to each area depending on which projects are given the go-ahead, is designed to stimulate regeneration and drive long-term economic growth.

Civic leaders and other organisations formed a board that was asked to come up with a Town Investment Plan, and local people were asked for their ideas.

Now the panel has revealed its plans which include the re-purposing of Chisholm House into a college and the use of a green space for elderly housing and a community space.

They say their plan has drawn on ‘wide ranging engagement and consultation with key stakeholders in Corby’ and draws from previous overarching planning documents drawn up to cover the local area and the whole region.

They used virtual workshops and market research to come up with ideas as well as one-to-one meetings.

The membership of the panel has not been made public but it is know to have involved people from Corby Council, residents’ groups, arts organisations, marketing organisation Love Corby and the area’s MP.

Outside contractors involved in the process included London-based property consultants Lambert Smith Hampton, Middlesbrough-based NEMS Market Research, Norfolk-based research consultants Ramidus, and transport planners Urban Movement - based in London.

Their shortlist is now made up of four key projects:

- A sixth form centre at Chisholm House in Queen’s Square using £9.5m from the towns fund and £10.1m of private funding

- A multi-use space at the green space next to the Anne Street car park including retirement flats and a large community, youth and arts space. This had previously been earmarked for a Market Walk shopping extension. It will cost about £3.34m.

- A safe pedestrian and cycle route between the train station and the town centre along Oakley Road using £11.7m from the fund and £800,000 from S106 developer funds.

- The use of new technology to help monitor flows of pedestrians, cyclists, motorists, shoppers and visitors to help understand how to attract new green and ‘smart’ investors to the town. This will cost £405,000.

A report to be presented to Corby Council next week says: “The board has been working with Tresham College and Sovereign Centros (acting on behalf of the town centre owners) to establish a post-16 education facility within Corby town centre.

“This vision for the post-16 centre is an ambitious one - to equip students with the very best skills and education, to enable more young people to achieve their ambitions through to university and employment.

”The sixth form centre will occupy the upper two floors of Chisholm House, the majority of which has been vacant for many years.

”It will be renovated to ideally a carbon negative standard using the very latest green technologies and will deliver a modern fit for purpose building in the heart of the town centre.”

When finished, by 2025/26, it is expected the new college will provide education for up to 600 students over the longer term.”

The proposals, which have already been approved by the Corby Town Deal Board, are now due to be discussed at a special, online meeting of Corby Council’s One Corby Policy Committee next Tuesday, January 26, before being submitted to the MHCLG for approval.

Business cases will then have to be drawn up and could take up to a year to be ratified.

You can watch the meeting on Corby Council’s YouTube channel.