About the Newport project
Newport High Street Heritage Action Zone
Newport is the historic market town of the Isle of Wight and is home to some remarkable historic buildings, a medieval street pattern and two market squares.
Sadly it is suffering from retail decline, empty shops and some buildings are rundown and showing serious signs of decay. Traffic dominates many parts of the town and the quality of public spaces could be much improved.
Through the High Streets Heritage Action Zone we sought to build on the work already carried out by the community to shape the regeneration of the town. Working with partners, we prioritised projects to make the High Street a place that everybody living here wants to use and visit.
Improvements are planned to the High Street and St James’ Square, creating the first part of a ‘people first zone’, as well as funding design guidance to ensure future development improves the area’s historic character. Studies considered what’s needed to bring empty buildings and space into new use and a limited number of key buildings received grant funding to restore their historic appearance and help bring vitality back into the town centre.
Shaping Newport
The Newport HAZ was part of Shaping Newport’s programme of actions to regenerate the town. Shaping Newport is a partnership between The Isle of Wight Council Regeneration team, Newport Business Association, and Newport and Carisbrooke Community Council. You can find out about Shaping Newport’s other activities on their Facebook Page.
Design Guide
To help improve the standards of shopfront design and maintenance of building frontages in the town centre we have produced a new guidance document.
The Commercial Frontages Design Guide forms a important part of our shopfront improvement initiatives, setting a standard for what will be acceptable for grant-supported improvements. It was adopted as a supplementary planning document (SPD) in November 2022 and will ensure changes to frontages in the future mean the design and conservation standards our heritage town centre deserves.
More about the design guide here