Agenda item

The Head of Town Centre Renewal gave an update around Town Centre Development across the Borough.

Progress was continuing across the sites that made up the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan.  The Council had received the judgement of the High Court following the challenge from Linden Homes/Network Rail to the number of residential units that could be accommodated on Site A: Bromley North.  The Council was required to prepare, publish, consult upon and promote a new policy for the site, and it was proposed that this be included in the forthcoming Local Plan.  Officers were continuing to work with Transport for London to examine the business case underpinning a potential extension of the Docklands Light Railway to Bromley North.  The Council were anticipating that Transport for London would agree to fund and promote this business case work and engage in further discussion around the proposed scheme.  Officers had also held a preliminary meeting with Greater London Authority planners to examine options for designating Bromley Town Centre an Opportunity Area in the revised London Plan.

With regard to Site B: Tweedy Road, Officers were currently undertaking a traffic modelling assessment of the area which would be discussed with Transport for London  Following these discussions, a report would be considered by the Strategic Asset Management Group with a detailed proposal for the site.  The Land Group had been selected as the Council’s development partner in relation to Site C: the Old Town Hall, and regular progress meetings had commenced.  Proposals for the site had been developed by Cathedral in liaison with English Heritage who had confirmed that the scheme design was acceptable in principle.  There was potential for a Michelin-starred restaurant to be developed as part of the hotel offer.

Following a review of the options for Site F: Civic Centre, it had been agreed that in the short term, the Council would meet its accommodation needs through more efficient use of the campus site.  The Council was moving towards the procurement of a development partner in relation to Churchill Place (Site G), which would deliver a significant expansion in retail and office space as well as housing.  Following consideration of a number of returns to the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire tender process, Muse Developments, Barratt Developments and Kier Property had been invited to proceed to the next stage of the selection process and submit outline proposals, with the aim of identifying the preferred developer for Site G by May 2013. 

The improvement works at Site J: Bromley South would shortly be completed.  Lifts had been operational since early September 2012 and the new ticket office and entrance hall were due to be completed by the end of April 2013. 

The planning application for the redevelopment of Site K: Westmoreland Road Car Park had been approved by Development Control Committee on 6^th March 2012.  The car park had formally closed on 2^nd April 2013 and work had commenced on the demolition of the car park.  The work programme was scheduled for 24 months for full scheme completion, and a high proportion of the restaurant units had already been pre-leased, as well as the cinema.  A planning application for a mixed use scheme consisting of a hotel and residential units had been submitted by agents in respect of Site L: Former DHSS in September 2012.  This was not in conformity with the Area Action Plan policy for this site and was refused by the Development Control Committee in the March 2013 planning application cycle. 

The designs for planned public realm improvements to Bromley North had now progressed through to the detailed design phase which added traffic and engineering details and calculated final estimates.  Subject to external funding approvals, implementation of the scheme would start from June 2013.  The work programme had been divided into seven phases to minimise disruption to traders and was expected to take around 18 months.

In terms of development across the Borough, Officers were working with a new consortium that was seeking to implement a comprehensive improvement programme in the Walnuts Shopping Centre, Orpington.  An application for this redevelopment had been approved by the Development Control Committee on 20^th September 2012, and work had commenced on the demolition of the job centre.  Interest had been expressed by a range of businesses in relation to other available space across Orpington Town Centre.

Beckenham Town Centre had not been successful in its Step 1 Bid to the Transport for London Area Based Programme for 2013/14; however the Council had been awarded funding of £200,000 through the Local Improvement Programme for High Street/Rectory Road junction improvements.  Outline proposals for this work had been developed as part of the Step 1 Bid and Officers were proceeding with survey works to inform a detailed design for implementation. A full range of short term improvement projects had been approved by the Beckenham and West Wickham Town Centres Working Party on 7^th February 2013 and were currently being implemented.

RESOLVED that the update be noted.