Minutes:
Virgil Rappa, LBB Town Centre Development Project Planner, Stephen Oliver and Tolu Faleti, LBB Project Planners attended to provide an update on Town Centre Development across the Borough.
Progress was continuing across the sites that made up the Bromley Town Centre Area Action Plan.
The Local Authority had been informed verbally that the £28.5m Housing Zone bid had been successful; consisting of £12m in grants and £16.5m soft loans from the Greater London Authority and that final agreement would be drafted shortly. Initial scoping work was also being undertaken on Former AAP Opportunity Site A: Bromley North Station, which also formed part of the Housing Zone bid.
Architects Studio Egret West would be taking forward the design of the Bromley Town Central High Street Public Realm Improvements, which was agreed at the last meeting of the Council’s Executive on 2nd December 2015 and would see improvements to the pedestrianised area of the High Street. A full costings report was underway and would be reported to the Executive for Members’ agreement. Options are also being considered for the development of Site B: Corner of Tweedy Road / London Road but proposals would have to be sensitive to enhance the historic environment.
Soft market testing was undertaken in relation to Opportunity Site G: West of the High Street with further consultation due to take place with stakeholders in February 2016. Work would start on a revised brief in spring 2016, and a development partner was expected to be procured in autumn of 2016.
With regard to other town centre projects, in Orpington town centre, East Architecture would be developing plans for the Walnuts Shopping Centre area. Consultation with stakeholders was undertaken on the 26th November 2015 and a Stage 1 Report had been produced. The Renewal team had been working closely with the Orpington 1st BID Company to deliver trading platforms in the form of enterprise markets for new start-ups and small and medium sized enterprises.
As regards the Penge Town Centre Public Realm Improvement Project, Kinnear Landscape Architects undertook a public consultation in Empire Square at the Christmas Market on 26th November 2015 on initial options for the scheme. The outcome of this had been fed into the Stage 1 Design Report included in the Renewal and Recreation Policy Development and Scrutiny report discussed at the Committee on 26th January 2016. It is planned that these improvements would be implemented alongside planned Highways bus route improvements for the High Street. The Blenheim Shopping Centre was in new ownership, and the Renewal Team planned to involve the new owners in future consultations.
In considering improvements in Beckenham town centre, the scheme which was concentrating on the area between Beckenham Junction Station and the war memorial would see improvements to lighting, pavements and crossings. It was aimed at supporting inward investment through increased footfall and encouraging an already growing night time economy. The planned improvements were currently at the detailed design stage, and it was expected that works would start towards the end of summer 2016.
Following the recent successful bid to the New Homes Bonus, a possible site for an Aviation Training and Enterprise Centre had now been identified at the West Camp of London Biggin Hill Airport. A masterplan for the future development of the site would be produced before the owners were approached. It had not yet been concluded who would be responsible for the running of the centre. With regard to the employment-led regeneration project at the Crays Corridor, work was being carried out to further investigate the potential for developing the SIL opportunity sites identified by URS in the Planning for Growth Study 2014. The confirmed project sites included the Klinger Works site, the vacant land behind Tesco on Edgington Way and the former Allied Bakery Site.
RESOLVED that the update on the town centres development programme be noted.