West Midlands

There are big plans for Coventry, radical ideas which should improve the city - and create new centre for visitors and shoppers alike.

Ambitious plans for Coventry city centre

There’d be a new market hall, the central library would be swapped for an iconic new egg shaped building and a public park would be built on the rooftops.

The plans will cost tens of millions of pounds to realise over the next 15 – 20 years and will involve large scale demolition of parts of the existing centre.

Who pays?

But the plan rests entirely on private sector finance.

And other regeneration developments around the city and further afield are struggling… A scheme for Bradford has been put on hold and major developments in Leeds have been abandoned. They’ve simply run out of money.

Property analyst Pierre Netty spends his life assessing development projects and whether they’ll work.

"I’ve had a look at the companies involved and they seem to be following the same trend as all developers – a downwards spiral.

"All three companies’ profits are down, considerably. It’s predicted that 25 % of developers will fold in the next 12 months.

"But looking on the bright side and they all manage to ride this recession, this project will need money from the banks."

But Pierre also thinks that the recession will last for three to five years and that, in that time, there’ll be worse banking problems than those we’ve already seen.

So, does he think that the project will go ahead?

"No – I don’t think it will – sorry Coventry"

Sad news for Pete, who was born in the city and wants to see it a succeed:

"I would love to think that in the next 20 years Coventry will have a town (centre) it can be proud of.

"But what (sort of city) my children's children will live in… God knows."