Committee approves Council Decision

Below is a report on yesterday's Herefordshire council committee which discussed the council cabinet decision to give Stanhope PLC the go-ahead to develope the new retail quarter which borders Hereford United's football ground.

After nearly five hours of deliberations, a cross-party council scrutiny committee today endorsed and supported the cabinet decision to finalise negotiations for the creation of a new leisure and retail quarter for Hereford.

It means that a development agreement between Herefordshire Council, the regeneration company ESG Herefordshire and approved developers Stanhope plc could be signed later this year, giving the green light for the city to get several new household name retailers, a department store, new family restaurants and cafes and a multi-screen cinema.

The scrutiny committee, which wanted more explanation for the need for a 250-year lease for the development, heard from Jonathan Bretherton, chief executive of ESG Herefordshire, who confirmed that such a lease was the industry standard, and could be seen in developments in Birmingham, Blackpool, Portsmouth, Bath, Basingstoke and Liverpool (although Coventry is negotiating a 991-year lease).

The council said that the lease needed to be able to provide confidence for private sector investors and to ensure that high quality retail and leisure concerns come to Hereford. The lease would also enable local people, through their council retaining the freehold, to influence how this part of the city centre is improved and developed long term.

The committee, chaired by the Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Terry James, also discussed whether the credit crunch should lead to the development being put on hold. But it was upheld that the masterplan for the regeneration is a long-term vision that seeks to position Hereford as the employment, economic, service and shopping centre for the region, and should not be determined in the context of a comparatively transient issue like the credit crunch.

Councillor Adrian Blackshaw, cabinet member for economic development, warned that Hereford was already ‘bleeding market share’ because other regional centres were more attractive shopping centres. However, the extension and regeneration of the city centre, combining new national brand retailers with strong independent shops in the historic core of the city, would position Hereford as an important regional centre for commerce, retailing, leisure and tourism.

The committee also heard from Kirsty Chadd, from the Chadds independent department store, which closed in the summer last year after nearly 80 years of trading in the city. She said the new development is the only way to attract much needed household name retailers, who will want to ‘come as retail groups’, to Hereford. She also urged local independent retailers to work together to market themselves more effectively.

The scrutiny committee agreed that it would invite the cabinet to consider further updates and briefings on the project and process for all councillors. The committee also agreed that councillors would be given the opportunity to question and be satisfied on the financial viability of the project before final decisions are made.

The scrutiny committee also heard that several in-depth research projects had been undertaken by the council and ESG Herefordshire. The director of regeneration Geoff Hughes confirmed he would investigate which retail research could be made available to the public and to councillors.

The first phase of the project is set to start in 2011 and is intended to herald a range of substantial economic and social benefits for the county, including an eight-screen cinema, new restaurants, department stores, car parking and high quality pedestrianised streets with connections to the city’s High Town and Maylord Centre, all helping to generate a thriving new daytime and evening economy.

This report was originally published on the Herefordshire Council Website

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