What has changed after a year of city 'renaissance'?

One year on since a local authority announced its grand vision to revitalise a city, what has changed?

The Renaissance Vision, announced by Southampton City Council, proposed plans to improve transport, revamp the waterfront and create new neighbourhoods across the city.

The vision focuses on five areas to be regenerated: Mayflower Waterfront, West Bay, Heart of the City, Itchen Riverside and Ocean Village.

But for people looking for spades in the ground, councillor Sarah Bogle, cabinet member for economic development at the Labour-run authority, assures them that "a lot of work going on as we speak".

If people arrive in Southampton by train, they might be greeted by a relic from the past - a Toys R Us site, which has been derelict since the firm collapsed in 2018.

Now plastered with graffiti and currently being used as a car park, just a stone's throw from Southampton Central Train Station.

The overgrown area on Harbour Parade in West Bay was acquired by Aviva Capital Partners in January, who will work with the University of Southampton and the council to build a new neighbourhood.

Bogle admits "it's not really moved for a long time" but describes it as one of the most "prominent" and "iconic sites" and says it will be one of the "first off the block" in the renaissance master plan.

She says demolition of the site will be the next step and then they will look at how they can temporarily make use of the area before making any definitive decisions.

Another, slightly older, historic site in the city has already seen progress.

More than 500 apartments are rising in the Bargate Quarter, at the medieval heart of Southampton.

The historic walls behind it - witnesses to centuries of change - now overlook a £132m scheme first approved in 2017, but delayed when its builder collapsed.

Work restarted in 2024, with residents expected to move in later this year.

Just down the road, the former Debenhams on East Street, which closed in 2021, is being demolished to make way for more than 600 homes and new commercial space.

Bogle says she is "optimistic" about the direction of travel, adding: "Anyone who does development knows it's a long-term game - you don't get your instant return on investment."

"It wasn't just about sites, it was about how the city works and connects and some of the issues around transport and sustainability," Bogle says.

She says the Northam rail bridge project is an example of this with the area currently acting as "a bottleneck in the city's transport network".

Working in partnership with Network Rail, the authority wants to remove the single-lane, 117-year-old road bridge, which currently carries the A3024 and is nearing the end of its operational life.

The £100m plan, which was proposed in November, would see three years of construction, with hopes for completion by winter 2030.

Bogle says this has now "moved to the next stage" of consultation.

There are also plans to transform the waterfront of the famous port city.

Among those is turning Mayflower Park into a "major new" destination and relocating the Red Funnel vehicle ferry terminal.

Along the water at Itchen Riverside are discussions to make St Mary's waterfront area a "vibrant centre for sport and entertainment".

"It's huge amount of change that we are trying to affect in the city," Bogle says.

"The launch was all about setting out the stall and the principles if you like and an overall vision of where we want to get to and since then we have been cracking on."

She says it is an "exciting era for regeneration" but concedes "it's one thing saying it and another thing actually seeing it on the ground".

Councillor Jeremy Moulton, Conservative transport and economic development spokesman, says the vision for the city centre was welcome and should help attract private investment.

But he warns the plan sits against a difficult national backdrop, with stalled growth, falling per‑capita GDP, slowing construction and rising costs.

He says there are "reasons for cautious optimism", including planning permission for the Town Quay redevelopment and progress on the former Toys R Us site, though he notes the latter relies heavily on taxpayer support.

Moulton says the city urgently needs a credible housing plan and a long‑term investment partnership with Homes England, as well as major leisure venues to strengthen Southampton's regional offer.

He adds that congestion "made worse by local policies that frustrate motorists" is deterring people from coming into the city, and argues improving transport is essential for economic recovery.

Bogle says: "Last year, the council set up a revolving regeneration fund (RRF) to drive investment into Southampton over the next few years by demonstrating to investors our commitment to the delivery of the city's ambitious and exciting Renaissance Vision."

The council will use the £32m RRF as its contribution towards the new developments, investing £8m per year until 2028/29.

The RRF is fully funded by the council for the first two years, after which there will be a formal review to check whether it is working.

The local authority hopes the new projects will bring in more council tax and business rates, which will then allow it to invest a proportion of this extra income back into the RRF.

The developments in the city are not the only major changes on the council's radar, with plans for local government reorganisation still to be decided.

Whatever option is chosen will see Southampton City Council merging with neighbouring local authorities.

Bogle is confident these mergers will not derail the investment into Southampton's renaissance.

"It would be crazy to abandon it just because it was initiated under a previous administration," she says

"I think that would just be idiotic, but that is something that has been done in the past."

She adds that she is confident the plans will be seen as "a real engine of growth for the wider area".

You can follow BBC Hampshire & Isle of Wight on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.