The Committee is asked to receive a presentation from the Council’s Regeneration Manager.
Minutes:
Nigel Young, the Council’s Regeneration Manager, gave a presentation on the regeneration of the borough’s town centres.
Members noted that the town centres in Havering were split into three groups as follows
Metropolitan
Romford
Major District
Upminster
Hornchurch
Minor District
Hilldene
Rainham
Collier Row
Elm Park
Romford comprised of over 228,000 square metres of retail and service floorspace which equated to over 345 retail outlets. Vacancy rates in retail units in Romford were currently around the 8% mark which was below the national average of 14%.
Members noted that the Romford Urban Strategy had been agreed in 2005 and launched in 2007. The strategy’s main focus was on the area inside of the ring road and its aim was to create a vision for the future to attract visitors, workers and residents whilst also building on existing strengths, reinforcing historic identity and capitalising on its strategic location.
During the last few years improvements had been made to Romford town centre across four strands;
§Connecting Romford
§Variable Message System (VMS)
§Movement Study and associated outcomes
§North Street and Main Road Corridor Studies
§Romford Pedestrian Signage
§Romford Map
§Subway refurbishments
§Havering Cycling Strategy
§Romford Station Access
§Cultural Destination Romford
§Visitor Centre
§Romford Leisure Development
§Romford Market Strategy
§Havering Museum
§Safe and Sound
§Specialist Markets
§Local Development Order (LDO)
§Romford Library Refurbishment
§Romford Heritage Walk
§Romford Conservation Area Management Plan
§Commercial Romford
§Investment in shopping centres
§South Street Environmental Improvements
§North Street Repaving
§Marketing and Event Programme
§New office development
§Havering Skills Academy
§Promoting Romford Market
§Romford Promotional Campaign
§Liveable Romford
§North side development
§Rubicon
§Axis
§Western Road Development
§Quadrant Arcade
§Oldchurch Phase 1
Members noted that significant advertising campaigns promoting Romford had taken place during the summer and were also planned for the Christmas period which included newspaper advertisements in newspapers, billboards, JC Decaux boards, bus backs and posters at train stations.
The Romford Town Centre Partnership, where the Council joined forces with commercial partners such as The Liberty, The Brewery and The Mercury enabled jointly funded advertising of the town centre as a whole to take place.
In reply to a question regarding empty units such as the former Littlewoods and TJ Hughes sites, officers advised that progress was being made in re-letting the units but re-occupation was often held up by legal agreements being drawn up and put into place.
During the debate members discussed the poor state of Romford Station and commented that it was an off-putting site for anyone visiting the town centre.
Mention was also made of the parking gridlock that the town centre suffered from every Christmas time. It was suggested that the former park and ride scheme could be introduced however officers advised that this particular scheme was no longer viable and would only receive little take up.
Members also suggested that it may prove useful if a representative from Transport for London (TfL) could be invited to a future meeting to discuss traffic management issues that affected the town centre.
It was agreed to discuss the other town centre regeneration programmes at the next meeting.