Can council's £18m plan save 'ghost town'?

BOARDED-UP STREETS AND FACTORIES IN FACELIFT BID

- By JOSHUA HARTLEY

A BOARDED-UP building, followed by another and another - that is the reality of streets in Nottinghamshire's biggest town.

While town centres across the UK struggle to keep going as many shoppers head online, Mansfield's White Hart Street area, just a few minutes' walk from the town's railway station, has been collapsing into dereliction for decades.

In the shadow of the town's imposing Victorian viaduct, 14 buildings had been left to crumble after a series of redevelopment attempts failed to gain traction.

These derelict, metal panel-clad buildings, once crucial to the town's former industrial might, have also been blighted by trespassers and vandals.

After years of uncertainty, in June Mansfield District Council's planning committee approved plans for an £18 million redevelopment to demolish or transform the buildings into new housing and commercial spaces.

But what happened to the once-bustling area, and what exactly is the plan to save it?