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Architect's vision for Flitwick's future
Student feeds in ideas for town's redevelopment.
A masterplan to develop Flitwick's town centre has been redesigned by an architect who believes the original proposal is flawed.
Nicholas Clifton, 24, felt the suggestions put forward by Mid Beds District Council last year left the town without a defined centre, or enough open public places, and did not address the traffic problems.
At a meeting of the Flitwick At The Crossroads Residents Action Group on April 24, Mr Clifton presented his vision to residents and councillors.
He said: "I felt the masterplan did not address the understated train station which is hidden out of the way, the traffic problems left poorly overlooked areas, which would cause security issues, created conflicting architecture, would poorly utilise community space and would create no point of arrival or a sense of somewhere special.
"This is a town where people say 'look there's a Tesco' and see nothing else, which is a shame.
"A new road over the train tracks would connect the High Street to the west side of Flitwick and ease traffic problems. My design would create new open spaces and would have no buildings backing onto green spaces so areas would not be poorly overlooked.
"It would create new shopping boulevards and I think Tesco can exist next to small shops. It would connect the two sides of the town and create a central focal point."
The new design would see rooftop parking above Tesco, creating a three-storey building to maximise space. Mr Clifton, who has lived in Flitwick all his life and is a sixth-year architecture student at Oxford Brookes University, has now been asked to meet with Jon Cliff, the council's special projects manager who is overseeing the town's redevelopment.
However, Coun Stephen Mitchell (Lib Dem, Flitwick East) had mixed feelings about the plan.
He said: "I think it needs fine-tuning, but it is definitely food for thought.
"The original masterplan got it wrong, but this still does not deal with the east side of Flitwick which has become derelict and completely disconnected."
Flitwick At The Crossroads Residents Action Group is also campaigning for a bypass to take traffic from the M1 around the town's outskirts rather than through the centre.
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Sunday 05 February 2012
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