Ambitious regeneration scheme for 'ghost town' is progressing

SECOND STAGE OF PLANS INCLUDING A NEW LEISURE CENTRE AND LIBRARY APPROVED

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY

The former Arnold Working Men's Club and empty shops in Front Street

SHOPPERS in a struggling Nottinghamshire town where one area has become a 'ghost town' have urged its ambitious regeneration scheme forward.

Gedling Borough Council's cabinet approved the second stage of its Ambition Arnold regeneration on Wednesday, November 19, with councillors agreeing on the business case for the town to get a new leisure centre, arts centre - including a theatre and cinema - and library.

However, residents eagerly waiting for the demolition and transformation of the north part of ailing Front Street, where the additions are planned, will still have to wait until funding has been found.

"It is a waste of space, it's a ghost town," Brent Pegg, 67, said, looking up and down the quiet stretch of Front Street near the Cross Street junction.

"It has got to be better than this, I'm all for it. There's not really a lot to come down this end of town for at the minute," the Daybrook shopper said.

"If you look where everyone is going, no-one really comes all the way down here - everybody stops."