'We need £500m to revamp town'

Published 3 Mar 2013 07:30 2 Comments

HALF a billion pounds will be required to fund a town's regeneration according to a leading property agent.

That was the verdict from Malcolm Kempton, a director at chartered surveyors Kempton Carr Croft, during his presentation at the Transforming Maidenhead event on Friday, February 22.

More than 100 delegates from investment firms and businesses across the south east mingled with Royal Borough councillors and Maidenhead MP Theresa May, the home secretary, at the event at Adobe European headquarters, in Market Street, Maidenhead.

Mr Kempton said: "After a quick calculation, I think we're going to need somewhere around half a billion pounds to undertake most of these schemes. That's a huge amount of money, but we can see over £100m of investment either happening or about to happen in Maidenhead, with many other schemes yet to start.

"We need to encourage investment in the town and get people with money to come in and create the opportunities."

Simon Hurrell, the Royal Borough's head of planning, guided guests through the six key areas for regeneration identified in Maidenhead Town Centre's Area Action Plan, adopted in September 2011 - West Street; High Street East/York Stream; York Road; Stafferton Way; Railway Station; and Broadway.

Mr Hurrell highlighted schemes such as The Point, a 78,000sq ft office development due for completion in West Street this summer, and Shanley Group's plans for residential, office and retail units in the High Street East/York Stream area, for which a planning application is under consideration.

Mr Hurrell described 2015-2017 as 'key for this town' given the completion of many schemes and the introduction of Crossrail, and said The Waterways project would have a crucial role in linking the schemes.

Nick Cuff, from Essential Living, also outlined his company's plans for Berkshire House, in Queen Street. Essential Living hopes to become a consumer brand for private-sector rented accommodation, and hope to rejuvenate the 1960s tower block into modern rental accommodation.

The Royal Borough also cemented themselves as a key player in the regeneration, with Cllr Michael Saunders, lead member for planning and property, confirming the council's intention to appoint a development manager to oversee development of its assets north of York Road.

l Full report on pages 4 & 5.

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This article appeared in Bracknell News 27 Feb 13

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

• 

  hazelann70
  58 posts
  Mar 3, 08:51
  Report comment

  Good luck Maidenhead, it's taken Bracknell over 25 years to sort our regeneration out and still we wonder if it will happen. A few trees and half the shops closed down does not make a regeneration. Bulldozers and rebuilding does - neither of which have begun as of yet. Just don’t allow the same to happen there that has happened here – have the same stagnating people organising the proverbial p**s up in a brewery which then leads to the town being turned into a ghost town. That in turn has causes people to go elsewhere. The problem with our cronies is they haven’t given any thought to temporary accommodation for the independent stores and so they are now being driven out of the town. If you want a great example of what not to do, then just come to Bracknell.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 8     No 2

• 

  Huffmum
  Unregistered User
  Mar 3, 19:15
  Report comment

  Oh well, that means another totally pedestrian town with disabled parking miles from anywhere. Disabled and elderly wave goodbye to another town.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 4     No 2

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