Millions to be spent on Queens Square '“ but Pavilion will stay

The figures were announced on Wednesday (February 5) at Crawley Question Time – a public debate about issues relating to the town.

Cllr Howard Bloom, leader of Crawley Borough Council, told the meeting £1.5million each would be put forward by the borough and West Sussex County Council to give the square a new lease of life.

He said: “This is really on the basis of the fact that Queens Square looks very dated, is not an attractive place to visit and we want to turn it into a more vibrant environment that people will say ‘this is where we want to be’.”

Cllr Bloom stressed the council did not own any of the properties in Queens Square but agreed the area needed to be made more attractive.

He spoke about the trend for turning disused offices and space above shops into homes and added: “Crawley is one of those places where that might be quite attractive and we’re very keen to see that being taken forward because, if you’ve got people living there, it changes the environment. It becomes a more friendly place.”

The idea of using the town centre for things other than retail was supported by Labour Group leader Cllr Peter Lamb.

He said: “Certainly Queens Square should be the heart of the town centre. It should be this area where you see this main thoroughfare which people pass through and we’ve really got to try to concentrate that footfall in a very limited region if you’re going to get them into the shops.

“I think we need to look past retail. We have to think more about what we have to do to make an area people want to visit because if you get the people in there, they are going to go shopping while they are there.”

A spokesman for the borough council said no decisions would be made on how to spend the money until the public had shared its views on what improvements would be welcomed.

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