PLANS to ‘breathe new life’ into Basingstoke’s Top of Town have been announced, with the hope of transforming the area.

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council has announced an action plan to ‘kick-start the rejuvenation’ of the Top of Town area and enhance its vibrancy with a package of improvements, including outdoor seating to create a ‘thriving café culture’.

The council said a series of enhancements will be made to the area, while longer-term options for the town centre are explored.

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(Image: BDBC) As a priority, the council’s decision-making Cabinet has been working with businesses and partners to explore issues and solutions to improve what it calls the town’s ‘historic heart’.

The plan focuses on measures to make sure the Top of Town is a welcoming place for residents, businesses and visitors and to celebrate the heritage of the area.

It plans to invest in the environment of the area and work with other landlords and landowners to see a ‘concerted effort to improve the Top of Town’.

This includes carrying out a deep clean, repainting safety railings, maintaining the green spaces and planters, enhancing a schedule for street cleaning, and exploring options for decorative lighting and extra planting.

The council is also set to launch a new grant scheme to encourage business owners to improve and maintain their shop fronts and is exploring other initiatives to encourage shoppers to visit the area.

This includes making it easier for businesses to have outdoor seating areas by reducing the level of public liability insurance required, with the hope this will create a ‘thriving café culture’.

It will also work with venues to encourage more live music to ‘enhance the arts and culture scene in the area’, complementing the council’s events programme which attracts thousands of visitors to the Top of Town.

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The borough council’s cabinet member for major projects and regeneration Cllr Onnalee Cubitt said: “The success of the Top of the Town is incredibly important to us. We want it to be vibrant and welcoming for residents and visitors alike.

“We love our town centre but we know that investment is much needed. We are passionately committed to working with businesses and share their desire to move forward together and deliver improvements that will shape the look and feel of the area.

“And that is why we are taking action now and over the course of the next 12 months to support businesses to create a Top of the Town that we can all be proud of.”

It is not the first time the council has attempted to rejuvenate the Top of Town.

In 2013 the borough council appointed a town centre project manager to lead a town centre programme and decide how £280,000 of funds should be spent to ‘breathe new life’ into the area.

The funds included £100,000 from the Government’s High Street Innovation Fund, which came from the Mary Portas review into the UK’s declining high streets.

The project came to an end in 2019.