Plymouth City Council’s Planning Committee has approved plans for a £47.5 million redevelopment of the Grade II listed Civic Centre.
Although there are no guarantees that it will actually happen, the green light has now been given for the landmark building to be turned into 144 apartments, a new City College Plymouth campus and a rooftop restaurant for the public to enjoy.
The lower floors and basement are planned to become a Skills Hub, which is expected to train up to 2,000 students every year across more than 60 courses.
Plans also include a cafe, salon, spa, technical workshops, classrooms and digital learning facilities, while residents will have access to a gym, cinema, lounge and co-working space.
The plans will see the tower reclad, its windows replaced, and the surrounding public space landscaped with new planting and seating. The reflective pond between the Civic Centre and Council House will also be refurbished.
The application was referred to the Planning Committee on probity and public interest grounds because Plymouth City Council (PCC) owns the building, has a significant financial interest in the project and is also the planning applicant.
The redevelopment benefits from around £35 million of public subsidy, which was considered significant enough for the decision to be taken publicly by councillors rather than delegated to planning officers.
Councillors debated numerous concerns about the project, including whether every part of the development will be completed, the lack of parking, bedrooms without external windows and the absence of affordable housing.
Councillor Kathy Watkin (Conservative, Plymstock Radford) said she was “in two minds” about the application.
She explained that she was a member of the planning committee when earlier plans were approved around six and a half years ago, but the building has remained empty with relatively little happening since.
Cllr Watkin said: “I see there is a suggestion that the project could actually be developed in stages.
“Is there some way that this can be conditioned so that it has to be completed within a certain length of time?”
PCC Planning Officer Katie Graham said the council currently intends to complete the structural shell and core works before handing over the education floors to City College Plymouth by 2029.
The college would then be responsible for fitting out its campus, while the residential developer would complete the apartments. A separate commercial operator is also expected to be needed for the rooftop restaurant.
She added: “There are a lot of moving parts on this application.
“You have got the college, you have got the residential provider, you have got the city council and you also have, hopefully, a restaurant provider as well.
“They are all going to have their own different requirements, timings and delivery programmes.”
She said imposing a condition requiring the entire redevelopment to be finished by a particular date would be unreasonable and would not meet the legal tests for a planning condition.
Cllr Watkin asked whether this meant City College Plymouth could move into the Civic Centre while other parts of the redevelopment were never delivered.
Ms Graham replied: “I suppose there is always going to be that risk, as with any development if it is built out in phases.”
Cllr Watkin also raised concerns about plans to provide no dedicated parking for people living in the 144 apartments.
She said: “I disagree that 144 people are going to be happy not having a car in the city centre.
“Buses and trains usually stop at about 11pm at night. There is no way of getting home after that, and certainly not for a woman.”
She said residents working shifts outside the city centre may still need cars and warned that nearby car parks could become busier as more shops, homes and attractions open.
Cllr Watkin added: “I understand the car parks are currently underused as Dingles has closed down and Debenhams has closed down.
“Once these people start to come back into the city, there will be life in the city centre and part of the car parking will be lost. That really does concern me.”
Council officers said the Civic Centre is considered a highly sustainable location because it is next to Royal Parade and within walking distance of Plymouth railway station, the coach station, shops, schools and open spaces.
People living in the apartments will instead be expected to use public transport, walk, cycle or pay to use nearby public car parks.
The Civic Centre car park will lose 25 spaces as part of the redevelopment, with the plans relying on a 2024 survey which found it was only around 35 per cent occupied.
Highways officers concluded that there was enough capacity in nearby car parks, including Western Approach, to accommodate demand from the development.
The project will provide 201 cycle parking spaces, with 176 intended for residents and 25 allocated to City College Plymouth.
Councillor Jeremy Goslin (Labour, Peverell) described the planned number of cycle spaces for the college as “massively insufficient”.
The campus will have a maximum daily attendance of around 650 learners and 40 members of staff.
Cllr Goslin said cycling would be an essential transport option because the development was being approved without dedicated car parking.
Councillor Anne Freeman (Labour, Devonport) raised concerns after studying the proposed layouts of the apartments.
She said: “I get concerned when you have bedrooms that do not have windows.
“I am sure there was something mentioned previously about every room having access to natural light.”
Planning Officer Katie Graham confirmed that 42 per cent of the apartments will have bedrooms set back from the outside of the building.
She said this would not normally be the council’s preferred design but was considered the best way to meet national space and accessibility standards while working within the structure of the listed tower.
The affected bedrooms will receive natural light through slot windows or high-level internal windows connected to rooms facing the outside of the building.
Ms Graham said officers had been reassured that similar designs had been used in award-winning developments elsewhere in the country and at Royal William Yard in Plymouth.
The 144 homes will consist of 120 one-bedroom apartments and 24 two-bedroom apartments, but none will be affordable housing.
A financial assessment of the Civic Centre project assumed that a one-bedroom apartment could be rented for £1,100 a month, with council tax charged on top.
Councillor Lauren McLay (Green, Plympton Chaddlewood) questioned the decision when the project was receiving around £35 million of public funding.
She said the redevelopment had been described as a “market maker” for Plymouth and warned that approving it without affordable housing could set a damaging precedent for other brownfield developments.
Local planning policy would ordinarily seek at least 30 per cent affordable housing, while national guidance suggests that build-to-rent schemes should generally provide around 20 per cent affordable private rent.
However, officers said the Civic Centre qualified for a national policy known as Vacant Building Credit.
The policy is intended to encourage empty buildings to be brought back into use by deducting their existing floorspace when calculating affordable housing requirements.
As the redevelopment will not increase the amount of floorspace within the Civic Centre, the affordable housing requirement was reduced to zero.
Officers also concluded that the project would not be financially viable if it were required to provide affordable housing or other Section 106 contributions.
Planning Committee chair Councillor Angela Penrose (Labour, Compton) said councillors may regret the absence of affordable homes but were required to consider the circumstances of this particular application.
She said: “We have got to bear in mind that we are looking at one project. We are not looking at the city.
“The provision of affordable housing is not required, although we may regret that.”
Cllr Penrose said the committee should make clear that it continued to expect affordable housing from other developments where planning policies and financial viability allowed it.
Development Delivery Officer Joe McCarthy told councillors the figure was at the “top end” of what people in Plymouth could afford.
He said: “My personal view is those rents are already pretty much at the top of what Plymouth can pay.”
Further concerns were raised about the future cost of heating the apartments.
Councillor Grace Stickland (Reform UK, Plymstock Dunstone) said she was “really impressed” by the plans but added “the only thing I’m worried about is heating.”
She asked: “Will there be a cap [on charges] for residents because they only have one company?” and warned that they could be left open to exploitation.
Planning Officer Katie Graham replied: “It’s not something we would know at this stage. It wouldn’t be a material consideration.
“There has long been a policy for district heating within the city centre and there has been quite a lot of progress recently to deliver that.
“That would be a detail for the project team at the appropriate time, but it is not something I can give you today.”
The £47,486,361 currently allocated to the scheme includes money from the Future High Streets Fund, council borrowing, the Levelling Up Fund and more than £18 million from Homes England’s Brownfield Infrastructure and Land Fund.
This funding will pay for the shell and core works, with City College Plymouth and the residential developer expected to fund their respective internal fit-outs.
Manchester-based developer Capital&Centric has been chosen to deliver the residential part of the project.
The Civic Centre was previously sold to developer Urban Splash for £1 in 2015 after the council moved out of the building. Urban Splash later sold it back to the council for £1.
The redevelopment has now been granted planning permission. A date for the first residents to move into the Civic Centre has not yet been confirmed.
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