South Gloucestershire | Archive | 2005 | July | 29
From the Gazette, first published Friday 29th Jul 2005.
THORNBURY shopping centre bosses have unveiled major redevelopment plans which they say will be the key to halting the town's decline as local retail centre.
They say the £6 million scheme for a 6,000 sq ft library, offices and a three additional retail units - including a new "anchor" store - will help repair the damage to trade since the opening of the Cribbs Causeway shopping complex and the edge-of-town Tesco store.
St Mary Centre owners Peer Group plan to fund the three-storey development - including a first floor library more than twice the size of the current St Mary Street facility - as part of a land deal with South Gloucestershire Council.
Company chiefs are already in negotiation with four "nationally known" non-food retailers, one of which is set to sign up to occupy a large part of the ground floor of the building which would extend over the existing service yards.
The top floor offices would be occupied by a local employer currently operating for split sites in the town.
To increase parking capacity Rock Street and Castle Court car parks will be replanned. The possibility of a substantial increase in parking spaces at Castle Court by introducing a new deck level is also being examined. The plans also include relocating the existing public lavatories near the shopping centre's main Rock Street entrance to a "convenient" central location with modern facilities.
The new retail units would mainly occupy the St Mary Street frontage and would be a "natural progression" of the existing shopping street.
In a consultation report, architect Paul Brookes says the design pays full attention to scale and style and echoes the street scene with differing low level pitched roof facades. Materials include traditional renders, stonework and slate/tile roofing and care would be taken to avoid "bulk" and monotony.
His report states: "At present this area of the town provides little welcome to the visitor. An unattractive system-built library building and a service yard surrounded by funcational elevations to the shopping centre face the surface car parks either side of Rock Street. Replacing these with a well designed and considered piece of archetecture that suits its purpose of enhacing the area, both visually and functionally, will enliven and improve this edge of the centre.
"With the inclusion of vital retail and office resources as well as a brand new state-of-the-art library, the new development proposals can only bring prosperity and community benefit as well as visual amenity to the Thornbury."
Peer Group representative Robert Couchman was in Thornbury last week to explain the proposals to special interest groups, councillors and the public.
He said plans for the new development would be submitted to the council this September and, subject to approvals, the new building could be open in the spring or summer of 2007.
"We won't be making much money out this but we need to do it for the sake of the shopping centre and its future," said Mr Couchman. "We recognise there have been problems in recent years with filling units in the centre despite rents being relatively low.
"With another anchor store providing added an general attraction, it will be much easier to attract new tenants."
He said the recent uncertainty over the future of the former Safeway store was a reminder that the success of the centre in particular and the town in general could be seriously affected by the fate of just one major retailer.
Meanwhile the outlook for the rest of the centre looked far more positive and it was hoped that the next six months would see new tenants in several of the empty units - including the former Compleat Cookshop which, subject to planning consent, was set to be become an Italian restaurant.
Public consultation the library site plan is now underway.
Charles Eardley-Wilmot, chairman of the Concern for Thornbury watchdog group, said any major investment in Thornbury was to be welcomed but he was concerned about retail viability, particularly in the event of any future expansion by Tesco.
"A new community building on the cattle market site is already on the drawing board and there seems to be a lack of any cohesive approach to town centre redevelopment," he said. "By going about it in a piecemeal fashion opportunities are being lost."
© Newsquest Media Group 2008