Newbury Weekly News - May 11th 2017

Thursday, May 11, 2017

Newbury Weekly News

NEWBURY VISION2026CONFERENCE Bayer ‘had sights set on HQ closer to London’

Council saysbidtokeeppharmaceutical giant intownwasdoomed tofail

to them in Newbury on a green- field site which might have been tricky to deliver but we had a partner who was willing to do that. “And again, I think the attraction of Green Park was too much. Unfortunate, but we certainly tried. “I do genuinely think that other sites closer to London were always in their sights and we were always competing with those sites.” Mr Carter added that the council was doing as much as it could to prevent the same thing happening and has understand- ing with some of its major employers about what their aspirations were. However, he added: “I am not giving any guarantees. At the end of the day companies will form their own view about where they want to be. “I still think Newbury, West Berkshire, is a very attractive place for companies and perhaps a slightly more attrac- tive place to live than perhaps to locate. “I think it is a bit more complex than simply saying ‘can the councilkeep everyone here?’. “We will certainly try, but at the end of the day there are a range of other factors in play.”

BAYER always had one eye on a site closer to London, West Berkshire Council’s chief executive claimed last week. The company left its UK headquarters in Newbury earlier this year after 32 years in the town and relocated its 470 employees to Green Park in Reading. The district council came in for some fierce criticism when Bayer announced the plans, with many saying it failed to do enough to retain one of its largest employers. Last week, LiberalDemocrat parliamentary candidate Judith Buntingquizzed council chief Nick Carter over what the council did to try and keep Bayer and what mistakes it had learnt. Ms Bunting asked: “My ques- tion is about employment and commercial development and the loss of Bayer. “It was no surprise to anyone who lives in Newbury that the Bayer lease was going to run out. “We also understand that Bayer wanted to stay in Newbury, that they really Report by DANCOOPER email dan.cooper@newbur ynews.co.uk twitter @danc_nwn

Faraday Road intheheartoftheLondon Road Industrial Estate

LRIE redevelopment is still a long way off

we are wanting to do is rejuvenate LondonRoad and create some of that office space. “We fully recognise there are other operators, other employers there, that Newbury need. “Some of them may well stay on the industrial estate, some may go elsewhere. That maybe something that is mutually beneficial. “Once we have got through the legal process, this, I suspect, is some- thing that will come up at future conferences.” The LRIEworker then asked: “Is it possible to give us some sort of timescale, simply because I work on the industrial estate and everyone I speak to says they are in limbo? “They can’t increase their work- load because they just don’t know if they’ll have a unit to finish up with once the development goes ahead.” Mr Carter responded: “Our hope was that the legal process might have moved forward by now. It seems to have taken a little longer than we thought. “There is no ability for the council to prompt the judges in this, they will take whatever time they need. “If we clear through that, then St Modwen will need to submit a plan- ning application, so we are some way off from my point of view.” The employee then said: “Are we talking four or five years away?” Mr Carter replied: “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s that – it might be a little shorter, but not a lot shorter. “Nothing is going to happen very quickly is my message to you and certainly the timescale you talked about is where my head would be.”

THE controversial redevelopment of the London Road Industrial Estate (LRIE) in Newbury won ’t be happening any time soon. That was the verdict from West Berkshire Council chief executive Nick Carter when asked when he thought the work would start. The council has long had aspira- tions to regenerate the area and in 2014 it appointed St Modwen as its preferred developer. St Modwen submitted a master- plan to build a mix of residential accommodation and office space on the site, but no formal planning application has been submitted yet. That is because the plans are currently subject to a legal challenge from rival developer Faraday Devel- opments Limited. A concerned member of the public, who works on the LRIE, asked the council’s chief executive Nick Carter what plan was in place for the exist- ing commercial units in London Road when the site is redeveloped. Mr Carter responded: “We have started some conversations with some of the employers on that site. “I have made it clear in previous discussions here, that the council and St Modwen – St Modwen will take the lead on this – will be working with those employers on the indus- trial estate. “Where appropriate, we may well be looking at relocation where that something that might be mutually acceptable. “But at the moment, because of the legal process we are in, we are not doing a great deal. “We are not looking at closing down businesses in Newbury. What

Bayer switched itsUKHQtoReading thisyearafter32years inNewbury

in terms of options about stay- ing in Newbury. “I think they had an eye on Reading and being closer to London as well. “I think it is fair to say that. It was very clear from some of the early conversations we had. “We put options for London Road to them. It would be unfair to say they wanted to go to London Road. “They had concerns around London Road in terms of deliv- erability, they had concerns in terms of what would be around them. “We then put a further option

wanted to be on the Faraday Road site. “So I wanted to ask, how come they have gone to Read- ing? “We need high-tech employ- ers in the future. What does that say to companies looking to come in here? “I would love to know what you did to keep Bayer here and how are you going to change that in the future so that we don’t lose companies like Hitachi and Amec as well?” Mr Carter replied: “There was a lot of conversation with Bayer over a protracted period

Town must move with the times WEST Berkshire needs more moder n commercial buildings in order to retain existing employers and attract new businesses to the area. Bunting, at the Vision confer- ence last week. Ms Bunting asked what the council was doing to ensure that major employers did not leave Newbury to go else - where. good news. We want to encour- age that. “But we also really need to work with the LEP [Local Enterprise Partnership] to sell Newbury and West Berkshire to new businesses looking to invest in the UK.

That was the view of Marcus Franks, the councillor respon- sible for overseeing the Newbury Vision. Mr Franks was responding to concerns from the Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Newbury, Judith

Mr Franks replied: “The relationship with local busi- nesses is important and we believe we have got that. “There are a number of companies tha t are expanding in Newbury and that is really

“We need moder n commer- cial buildings that are suitable to modern businesses. “London Road will deliver some of that, but I think we need to look for more.”

MarcusFranks

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encourage ‘ sympathetic ’ new develop- ment in the town. The chairman of the Newbury Town Plan steering group, Anthony Pick, previously said: “The purpose of the town plan is to provide our ideas on how Newbury might grow and develop over that period, and the opportunities, issues and constraints which we fore- see.” The town council will refer to it when dealing with any planning appli- cations that it considers in future. The document is in the form of a 64- page illustrated booklet, which picks out 11 key principles relating to the whole town. Newbury Town Council has set up a questionnaire for members of the public to complete on its website www.newbury.gov.uk The draft town plan is scheduled to be published in October 2017, with the final version due to be completed by March 2018.

NEWBURY Town Council believes that a new business park – accessi- ble from the M4 – will be needed in order to attract new and expanding companies to the area. It also feels that the retention of young people, or the innovation gener- ation as it describes them, is vital. To help achieve that, it feels a short- stay leisure proposition and an events venue for 2,000-5,000 people should be investigated. The town council says that more affordable, starter and student accom- modation is also needed to improve the offering for young people living locally. Just 16 per cent of the population of West Berkshire is aged between 20 and 35, compared to 29 per cent in Reading and 20 per cent nationally. Meanwhile, Newbury Town Council is asking for the public’s help in draw- ing up a town plan. The aim of the document is to ‘conserve the best of the old’ and

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