St Mary Bredman Square project set to start
Work on our latest Levelling Up project to improve the area outside the former Nason’s store in the city centre starts next Monday (2 February).
This site is now called St Mary Bredman Square and the scheme involves:
- new steps by the former Nason’s entrance to make the square more open and inviting
- re-laying all the paving and repositioning the grave stones so they are easier to see
- increasing the size of the planting bed at the front of the square
- relocating the historic horse trough to the front of the square
- new benches
- improved planting bed against the side wall with trellis work and climbing plants
- a mural on the side wall reflecting the site’s former use as a church
During some preliminary investigation work, a vault has been uncovered beneath the paving, which is being investigated by Canterbury Archaeological Trust.
The project will be largely complete by the end of March, with the installation of the mural and planting bed potentially following a little later.
Cabinet member for the Levelling Up project, Cllr Charlotte Cornell, said: “It’s so exciting to see this key city space brought back to life, with a thoughtful design reflecting it as a church site, whilst also offering modern calm and serenity just off a busy high street.”
In terms of the Nason’s building itself, as has been well documented, the redevelopment has been held up by the nutrient neutrality issue in the Stodmarsh catchment area, which has impacted on viability.
This means a previous planning permission that was granted more than three years ago has now lapsed.
The positive news is that mitigation schemes to tackle the Stodmarsh issue are close to becoming available and we have had queries from the developer community about taking the project on.
This would require a new planning application for whatever scheme is proposed and a lot of work to bring any project to reality, but our officers are working with various parties to help and advise where we can.
In the meantime, we are creating some new exterior vinyls to help improve the appearance of the buildings, which we hope will go live in the spring.
Published: 30 January 2026