Churchfield Community Association AGM 2016
Ealing Council Economic Regeneration Update
Oak Shopping Centre
The Council has now sold the Churchfield Road car park to enable the development of the new shopping centre.
Waitrose took a Board decision not to locate in the shopping centre, due to a change in their retail strategy and a move to smaller stores. The developers are seeking other retail tenants and they are likely to be a mix of food and non-food retailers. It is anticipated that the developer will be able to announce who the retailers are in the new year.
Former Library & Curzon
The Council has exchanged contracts with Curzon Corinthian (Curzon’s development arm) to sell the former Acton Library building to be developed as a Curzon Cinema, restaurant and 3-4 residential units on the top floor. Curzon Corinthian is currently preparing a planning application. There is a deadline by which they must obtain planning consent – which is 12 months from the signed agreement date. A variation to the original agreement was signed on 9th Aug 2016 so the deadline for obtaining planning consent is 9th August 2017.
Acton Town Hall
Works on the creation of the 71 residential units are in progress. The developer, One Housing has confirmed the following timescales:
· The current hoarding will be replaced with marketing hoarding in May 2017.
· The show flat should be ready for launch in August 2017
· Completion of all units – March 2018
One Housing is also researching the cost for the town hall clock to be repaired and refurbished and will provide an update on this in early December.
Acton High Street Fund
Funded through the Mayor of London’s High Street Fund, the Acton High Street Fund will deliver a programme of initiatives for Acton town centre totalling £900,000.
The main purpose of the programme is to help transform and enhance the character of Acton town centre into a more attractive, functional, vibrant, welcoming area. Projects in progress include:
· An economic assessment/town centre strategy:
To help inform, shape and steer aspirations and the development of future town centre initiatives. This work has included public consultation undertaken in April 2016, a town centre health check survey and research drawn from Experian’s Town Centre Future’s Report. Recommendations from the study focus on five high level outcomes:
· Improved physical appearance of the town centre
· Increased economic activity
· A safer and cleaner town
· A healthier and more diverse business offer
· Partnership working and local participation
Further research is being undertaken with local businesses. The final economic assessment and town centre strategy is due for completion in February 2017.
· Public realm improvements at Churchfield Road:
Detailed design works for the improvements are in progress to enhance the section of Churchfield Road between Alfred Road and Burlington Gardens. The funding for the improvements will not stretch the full length of Churchfield Road however a funding strategy is being worked on with the aim of being able to roll this out in the future.
The improvements will enhance the aesthetic appeal within the town centre and will include: extra tree planting, footway build outs and shared use parking bays to create a higher quality public space that can be used for events/markets and complement the village style environment of the area.
The detailed bill of quantities is being worked on and soon a 3-week consultation process will begin (date tbc). Subject to consultation and materials it is hoped that works will take place during February 2017.
· Development of a Business Improvement District
We are at the feasibility stage of progressing the Acton Business Improvement District (BID). We are procuring specialist technical advice for both Southall and Acton so we can achieve economies of scale. This will include the interpretation of data and options appraisal regarding financial viability and formulating feasibility recommendations. The majority of business outreach has been completed and a core group of businesses are on board with the idea and are very keen for a BID to be developed. We anticipate the feasibility to be completed in February 2017 and, if successful, a 6 month BID campaign with be launched following this.
· Acton Town Team
A brief is being put together for the Town Team to be facilitated by a community representative/group. This will involve formally setting up the group, organising and facilitating meetings and creating an action plan for the future. This is due to limited staff capacity at Ealing Council and to ensure the Town Team is community –led (with council support). The brief will be sent out to town team members in advance of the next meeting on 14th December.
The Town Team have also agreed to take forward two projects:
(i) A town centre Christmas Fair event which will be held at the The Mount,/King Street on Saturday 10th December 2016.
(ii) A 'Citizen 20:20' creative arts project which will develop social interation in the community and create a town centre mural.
· Pop-up shop
The project team are currently working with The George & Dragon pub, to turn the vacant shop next to and linked with the pub (previously used as the W3 Gallery) into a functioning pop-up shop, based on the recommendations from the 'Make Acton' report, which aims to broaden the High Street offer and offer opportunities to local entrepreneurs and SME's. The pop-up application pack has been finalised and marketing will begin soon for 6 month occupation.
· Shopfront improvements
We are offering support to 8 selected businesses to assist them with improvements to their shopfronts. The initial designs have been agreed by the businesses and a pre-application meeting has been requested with Planning Officers.
· Business Support/Training
We are carrying out further activities, including social media marketing, to promote the Ealing boroughwide business survey - the results of this will help to shape a business support training programme that we will launch in Summer 2017.