Newbury Weekly News

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Thursday, May 11, 2017
‘Affordable housing is
biggest issue in district’
NEWBURY VISION2026CONFERENCE
THE chief executive of West
Berkshire Council sa ys the lack
of affordable homes is the
biggest issue facing the district.
Nick Carter’s claim came in
response to a question ask ed by
Newbury resident Neil Taylor.
Mr Taylor raised concer ns about
the increasing number of homeless
people and a lac k of affordable
homes at Market Street.
Mr Carter responded: “I think your
wider point is tha t there isn’t
enough affordable housing.
“We as a local authority – and
many employers in the audience –
struggle with recruitment and a lot
of that, particularly for low-paying
jobs, is driven by the cost of living
in West Berkshire.
“Affordable housing is, I think,
probably our biggest challenge.
“It is probably our biggest chal-
lenge in West Berkshire, a huge
challenge in the South East and a
huge national challenge.
“We haven’t got the answers to it in
many respects.
“The challenge we had with the
Market Street scheme comes bac k
down to viability.
“This is the issue we are
constantly struggling with.
“There was an expecta tion when
we started of having 30-per-cent
affordable housing with the
Market Street scheme.
“Simply getting that to a point
where it was viable meant that,
unfortunately, it was the af fordable
housing that was reduced and we
have seen that with previous
schemes.
“Some of you who have been
around for a while will remember
a similar sor t of debate with Park-
way. There were similar sor ts of
issues when viability became
problematic.
“To move the scheme forward
something had to gi ve and unfortu-
nately it was the af fordable hous-
ing piece.
“I recognise what you are saying.
“There are things happening
around homelessness and con ver-
sations going on ar ound that.
“But the much bigger issue of ‘how
do we address the housing issue of
West Berkshire’ is an ongoing
one.”
When asked if the council could
build more council houses , Mr
Carter replied: “I don’t see any
imminent return of West Berk-
shire Council building council
houses.
“As you know, we transferred all of
our stock to Sovereign in 1983.”
Chris Fletcher, development direc-
tor at Grainger – the company
overseeing the Market Street
regeneration –added that the
provision of af fordable housing is a
“very complex ma tter arrived at
after a variety of calcula tions”.
He added: “While the definition of
the term [affordable housing] has a
very specific meaning, w e are
trying our best to spr ead the word
about what affordability actually
means for a scheme like this and
therefore how accessible it is for
people.”
WestBerkshire Council chiefexecutive
NickCarter
Work on Market Street
to get under way in 2018
A MAJOR scheme to rede-
velop an area of Newbury
town centre is scheduled to
start in February 2018.
Full details of the Market
Street regeneration, which will
see 232 homes built opposite
the Kennet Shopping centre,
were unveiled last week.
As part of the redevelop-
ment, a 497-space car park will
be constructed to provide 150
spaces for council staff and
more than 300 for Network Rail
and station users.
The scheme, which was
approved last year, will see
developer Grainger complete
the work in six phases.
The first three, according to
Grainger, will appear “rela-
tively minor” and involve
demolishing the existing bus
station and clearing Highfield
Avenue to free up land for the
car park.
However, before any work
can start, Grainger has to
speak to various bodies about
releasing land.
Development director at
Grainger, Chris Fletcher,
admitted the site was a
“Rubik’s cube when it comes to
delivery”, owing to the land
being adjacent to stakeholders
such as Network Rail.
At last week’s Newbury
Vision 2026 conference, he said:
“We would ideally be able to
start construction on the resi-
dential quarter as soon as we
could, but the reality is that the
construction of the car park
and maintaining of car parking
spaces takes priority.
“Not to mention the various
bodies that have processes for
us to follow, such as Network
Rail, and GWR have an interest
in the scheme itself in terms of
assets being constructed.”
The work will include an
improved entrance and access
to Newbury railway station
and a new pedestrian access to
the town centre.
Plans also feature a new
station square with a café,
alongside nine new commer-
cial units and a residents hub.
The construction of the first
three residential blocks and
multi-storey car park will start
at same time and last for
approximately 38 weeks.
Mr Fletcher said the later
phases, which will see the
remaining residential blocks
built, will take around 63
weeks to complete.
Plans to regenerate the 5.5-
acre site have proved contro-
versial.
It was revealed that the land,
which the council previously
owned and valued at £3.9m,
was given to Grainger at no
cost.
Despite this, only 13 of the
232 homes built will be afford-
able, prompting critics to say
the scheme did not provide
good value for money.
There have also been
concerns raised over parking,
with just 108 spaces being
provided for the 232 homes.
Grainger anticipates the
project will be completed
towards the end of 2020, but
was reluctant to commit to a
definite timescale.
Mr Fletcher said: “We have
somewhat cowardly avoided
putting dates on most of this
because that work to unlock
various parcels is a complex
one and will take some time to
resolve.”
He added that Grainger was
engaging regularly with the
various parties to ensure that
happens “as soon as possible”.
Regeneration oftowncentre sitelikely totaketwoyears tocomplete
NEWBURYVision 2026outlines
WestBerkshire Council’saimsand
objectives forthetownovertwo
decades and includes details of
major developments andproposed
improvements toroads.
Atameeting heldattheCorn
Exchangelastweek, local residents,
business ownersandcouncillors
were invited tohearwhathecoun-
cilhasplanned. Among thekey
topics coveredwere theregenera-
tionofMarket Street andtheKennet
Shopping centre,therelocation of
Newburybusstation and improve-
ments toNewburytrainstation.
Proposed improvements tothe
Robin Hood andBearLane
roundabouts werealsodiscussed.
Onpages6to9,DANCOOPER
looks attheimpacthechanges
could haveonNewbury.
Anartist’simpression ofthenew ‘station square’ andmulti-storey carpark
Concern over potential drop in footfall
BOTH West Berkshire
Council and developer
Grainger have denied that
the Market Street redevel-
opment will discour age
footfall in Bar tholomew
Street and Cheap Street.
During the meeting, local
businessman Ste phen McKin-
non, who set up the Abstract
Bodyworks gym in Kings Road
West, Newbury, raised his
concerns.
Mr McKinnon feels that the
new development will encour -
age people to walk out of the
railway station, through
Market Street and into the
town centre.
During last week’s Newbury
Vision meeting, he asked West
Berkshire Council’s chief
executive, Nick Carter:
“Would you agree that the
Market Street development
does nothing to encoura ge
footfall at all in Bartholomew
Street and actively discour-
ages footfall in Cheap Street?”
To which Mr Carter replied:
“No, I wouldn’t agree with
that.
“What we have sought to do
with the Market Street devel-
opment is intr oduce housing
into the town centre in what is
a very sustainable location.
“That in itself will create
footfall.
“Indeed, the conversations,
as you’ve heard in relation to
the Kennet centre, are about
what the Kennet centre might
want to do in terms of its offer
to reflect on the fact there are
going to be more people living
in the town centre.
“Those people g enerate foot-
fall.
“They will want to b uy
things, they will want to buy
food, etcetera etcetera.
“So no, I don’t agree that
putting 230 or 240 housing
units onMarket Street is going
to be negative for footfall.
“What is there at the
moment? Car parks? They are
not generating footfall.”
However, that answer did
little to satisfy Mr McKinnon,
who said: “You are ignoring
the question.
“We are talking about
Bartholomew Street and
Cheap Street, neither of which
you’ve mentioned.
“There will be tons of traf fic
coming out of the rail way
station, coming thr ough the
gateway into the redeveloped
Kennet centre.
That will be great for those
retail units.
“Your plan will discoura ge
people walking up Cheap
Street.
“They won’t need to,
because they will be going
straight through the car park
into the town centre.
“There will be nothing for
Bartholomew Street.
“So these two important, in
my opinion, retail centres are
being actively discouraged by
these plans.”
Development dir ector at
Grainger, Chris Fletcher, said:
“I would like to make one
specific and quite detailed
point in response to tha t.
“What it [Market Street
plan] will do, which currently
doesn’t happen, is deal with
the level difference between
the Highfield Avenue end and
the current route out along the
western side by the council
premises.
“You will now be able to
walk laterally through the site
as well as south to nor th for
the first time very easily.
“At the moment ther e are a
fair few barriers to that.
“Our scheme addresses that
fully and encourages people to
walk, as opposed to discourag-
ing people.”
However, Mr McKinnon
again reiterated that the plans
would discoura ge footfall on
Cheap Street and
Bartholomew Street.
Mr Fletcher responded: “I
don’t really see how.
“We aren’t fundamentall y
changing anything that allows
you to walk in tha t direction.”
Marcus Franks, the council-
lor overlooking the delivery of
the Vision, added: “The plans
for the Kennet centre will
make sure those units under -
neath the cinema are opened
up and looking out on Chea p
Street, which will encourage
people down the souther n end
of the town.”
Fearswereexpressed byonebusinessman ttheconference thatfootfall
willdropoffinCheap Street
“ Whatwehave sought
todowith theMarket
Street development is
introduce housing
intothetown centre
inwhat isavery
sustainable ocation
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