Thousands flock to opening of Armada Way transformation

Thousands flocked to join in the celebrations as Plymouth City Council’s “hugely ambitious” £30 million transformation of Armada Way was officially opened - and the general consensus is that people really like it!

The half a kilometre stretch of public space leading from the railway station towards the Hoe includes one of the largest urban play areas in the country and the water features such as the jets, pumps and a rill running down the length of the site were packed with children enjoying themselves.

As well as five themed children’s areas from woodland to sand and a sensory play space, the area is now home to 500 seats, 176 trees and 25,000 new plants. There are wild flower gardens, lawns and tree canopies giving shade to people enjoying a meal or a drink from one of the cafes along the thoroughfare.

The project is expected to be the catalyst for the city’s regeneration but follows a challenging few years. A doomed original project involving the felling of 100 trees by the former Conservative administration cast a cloud over the city and businesses have had to put up with years of disruption from ongoing work.

But council leader Tudor Evans (Lab, Ham) said as crowds gathered for the ribbon-cutting ceremony: “We did it, we did it!

“When we started on this journey at times it felt as if we would never get here, the ambition, the scale. the pace of change to transform our city sometimes seems too much but boy, how brilliant is this,” he said. “It’s absolutely been worth it, it’s a new heart for our city centre.”

It’s a place where we want to see children from tots to teenagers enjoying themselves, day in, day out and encourage families and visitors into a revived and reinvigorated city centre.

“And yes we want people to spend money, just a few quid for a coffee and a pasty will make all the difference to businesses here.”

He said the scheme was already attracting investors to the city including Schroders, which had brought the Armada Shopping Centre on the back of the public realm plans.

And he added that it was “ground-breaking” as it was the first time an ornamental water feature of this type had been combined with a sustainable urban drainage system to hold and recycle rain water and reduce untreated water going into Plymouth Sound.

Alice White who attended the opening with her three young children said she was impressed by the new look Armada Way: “I have not been into town for a while. It’s not easy to come shopping with three children but now this is here, we think we might come in and get some lunch and the children can play. I just hope it doesn’t get vandalised.”

Another resident called Jeff said: “We have been complaining about Armada Way for the last eight years, I thought we would come and see what a good job has been done, we are really pleased with it, it looks wonderful, well done the council.

“It’s a massive improvement on what was here before,” said Jeanette. “There are load of facilities for the children and older people as well, think it's absolutely amazing, well done Plymouth.”

During the opening day there was live music, street entertainers and stalls all along Armada Way.

Steve Hughes, of Plymouth City Centre Company, said he was delighted the public had turned out in such great numbers.

“It’s been a long time coming but it’s here now, with more lighting, more seating and lots of spaces for people to play and watch the world go by

“It’s a £30 million improvement scheme, it’s absolutely huge but it is especially big news for city centre businesses - it’s still tough on the high street and this will be massive help

“One of the things we will be doing much more of is live music, entertainment, more dance and more street theatre so we can become one of the liveliest city centres in the country.”

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