WEYMOUTH will see a new town centre strategy created.

Members of the borough council’s management committee agreed to the initiation of a new town centre strategy plan for Weymouth. The process will now progress with consultations, data collection, engagement with interested parties and the creation of a draft masterplan for the town centre.

The new plan will be created prior to the local plan adoption and the aim is to set out the vision for the development of the town centre over the next ten to fifteen years.

A report presented to the management committee said: “A masterplan for the town centre will help to clarify the nature and direction of future growth needed, taking into account the changes that are likely to happen within the area over the coming years.

“The masterplan will help provide greater certainty on the level of housing growth that this area can accommodate and may potentially be taken forward as a supplementary planning document.”

David Evans, director of environment, said: “There are significant opportunities in the town to provide more homes and jobs.”

He added there were opportunities to improve the income from borough council owned assets. He said the project had a draft target of Christmas, to be taken through early in the New Year.

Cllr Mike Byatt, chairman of the management committee, said: “It’s an important strategy which we need to make sure we are doing everything we can to achieve deliverability on.”

He added that he believed the process should be member led with support from council officers.

Ray Nowak said that the important message that should come from the meeting was that councillors wanted to engage with the business community and other community groups about how to use the assets.

He said: “It’s a huge opportunity.”