Town centre development closer as prime site
acquired
Bromsgrove District Council has made a huge
leap to further town centre regeneration and economic
development in Bromsgrove by investing in key town centre
retail property George House.
This landmark purchase has been made
possible through the strategic management of other
Council assets, resulting in the sale of Council-owned
industrial properties that enabled funds to be reinvested
in the town centre, a long-established priority area for the
District.
Located at 2 Worcester Street next to the
existing development site on St John Street and Market
Place, the significance of George House to Bromsgrove has been
long understood.
Together with the former Market Hall it formed
the key strategic area for development “Site 2, Market Hall and
George House” in 2008’s Town Centre Area Action Plan -
Issues and Options report.
That report refers to George House as an
“opportunity to develop a landmark building at the western gateway
to the High Street… to attract a high quality retailer,
environmental improvements and associated car parking” and as
playing a “very important townscape role in terminating the High
Street vista.”
Public coffers will also be boosted by the
commercial opportunities that this site opens up, good news at a
time when income from investments is at an all time low.
Leader of Bromsgrove District Council Roger
Cllr Hollingworth said: “We have heard many people say they want
the Council to ‘do something’ about the shops and town centre –
well we have been listening and investing, and now comprehensive
development of this particular area is far more likely.
“Not only is this site a valuable and exciting
opportunity, we have put our money directly into Bromsgrove instead
of the bank - where it was earning practically zero interest. It
makes both financial and strategic sense.
“I look forward to when we can start hearing
people’s views on what they believe this end of the High Street
should look like - and with the Sainsbury’s development at the
other end, we look ahead to years of investment in the town.”
The ground floor of the building is presently
let to Blockbuster Entertainment Limited, with upper floor offices
vacant. The Council is set to consider letting the offices.
Read the rest of the Town Centre Area Action
Plan – Issues and Options report anytime in the Local Development
Framework section of www.bromsgrove.gov.uk/planning.
