Newbury Weekly News - May 11th 2017

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Newbury Weekly News

‘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

Work on Market Street to get under way in 2018 Regeneration oftowncentre sitelikely totaketwoyears tocomplete NEWBURYVision 2026outlines WestBerkshire Council’saimsand

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.

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”. 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.”

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.

WestBerkshire Council chiefexecutive NickCarter

Anartist’simpression ofthenew

‘station square’ andmulti-storey carpark

“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.”

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

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

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 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

Concern over potential drop in footfall

Fearswereexpressed byonebusinessman ttheconference thatfootfall willdropoffinCheap Street

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

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 “ Whatwehave sought todowith theMarket Street development is

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