This is the first glimpse of how Sutton could look by 2030.

More shops and restaurants, year-round theatre events, jobs opportunities and better transport links form part of ambitious plans to transform the town centre.

The vision was revealed this week in Sutton Council’s masterplan, which it hopes will modernise the borough and shake off its “sleepy” image.

Council bosses want the south side of the town centre to be become a “cultural hub” hosting year-round dramatic productions alongside restaurants and shops. The north is set to see more mixed-use development, including retail outlets and houses, on the old gas works site.

The council is also to push for the Croydon Tramlink network to be extended to Sutton and through Sutton High Street.

Councillor Jayne McCoy, chair of the housing, economy and business committee, said: “We want to see more vibrancy, better retail, better leisure and cultural offers.

“We need to bring ourselves up to date - we have been very sleepy up until now.

What is attractive about Sutton at the moment is there is opportunity for developers.

“The reason we are doing the plan this way is we want to be proactive about development rather than reactive. We want to be able to say, ‘This is the standard we have got, this is where we want it to go and this is what our ambition is with the town centre,’ and then we can demand that quality.

The council’s housing, economy and business committee agreed the masterplan this week and it will now go out to public consolation next month.

Coun McCoy said the transport system in the town needed to improve the overall look of the centre.

She added: “The biggest things about the town centre is the gyratory, at the moment if you are driving through Sutton all you get is the back end of buildings and it is not a very good impression and it is blocked to development.

“A key part [of the plan] is looking at innovative ways we can deal with that, we could make it two-way system or we could introduce measures that make cars slow down a bit instead of driving around the centre.

“All these measures can be about improving the public round and making it more like an urban boulevard rather than just a rat-run.

“With that you get a much better feel in the area, it will slow down the traffic and it opens up development possibilities even more.”

Conservative opposition leader Tim Crowley said: “We need to listen to the community and the experts on this and see what comes out of it before we make any decisions.

“Let’s see realistically what might be able to happen rather than what they want to happen.”

The town-centre masterplan, which can be viewed on the council’s website, forms part of the authority’s wider local plan for the borough.

In August last the council commissioned consultants to develop the local plan at a cost of £260,000.

Consultation will begin on February 18 and run until April 8.