£200m Crawley town centre revamp could create 4,000 jobs
THE developer chosen to regenerate a large part of Crawley town centre has pledged to invest £200million and create up to 4,000 jobs.
Crawley Borough Council approved Stanhope Plc as it development partner for the next phase of Town Centre North (TCN) at full council on Wednesday (July 18).
TCN is a council led plan which aims to regenerate the north part of the town with new shops, leisure facilities and restaurants.
Martyn Chase, director of Stanhope, said: “We hope the redevelopment will make a huge difference to the people of Crawley.
“People will see real time benefits – between three and four thousand jobs will be created through construction and working in the finished shopping centre”.
Mr Chase said Stanhope would come up with a design in the next six months, before submitting a planning application next year.
The company, which has also worked on the BskyB headquarters, Tate Modern and the National Gallery, will draw up a plan to decide how much land it needs before talking to landowners.
He added: “We will look where the Sussex House site is (on the High Street) and start thinking about the area between there and the Town Hall. At the moment we don’t know how much land we require”.
Mr Chase said Crawley has a “fantastic” catchment area and a redevelopment could encourage more people from neighbouring towns to visit.
He said: “A number of wealthy people live around Crawley but are going to places like Guildford, Brighton and Bluewater to shop.
“We would try to bring these people to Crawley by providing better retailers, so we think the town has enormous potential.”
Stanhope is looking to bring another department store to the town, as well as trying to create more footfall between the High Street and Queens Square.
The London-based company also has an objective to relocate existing businesses as part of the plan.
Cllr Claire Denman, Crawley Borough Council cabinet member for planning and economic development, said: “We will be working really, really quickly in development terms. When you speak to other local authorities it’s normally a two or three year programme. This is going to be very resource intensive and what we have found so reassuring with Stanhope is they have got a really good team behind them and they work in partnership repeatedly”.
Phase one of TCN, the Bar Med and former Sussex House site at the northern end of the High Street, is being developed by Land Securities and St James’s Development.
A Morrisons supermarket, 110-bed Travelodge hotel, cafés, restaurants and a car park will be built on the plot, creating more than 400 jobs.
Land Securities said now it has secured vacant possession of Bar Med building work will begin this autumn.
A spokesperson for Bar Med in Crawley said it has reached an agreement with Land Securities but had no further information regarding its future in the town at this stage.
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Friday 24 May 2013
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