To receive a presentation on the proposals for Edmonton Green Shopping Centre. 

The Forum received a presentation on the proposals for Edmonton Green Shopping Centre.  Copies of the slides are attached to the agenda. 

1.            Presentation

The following points were highlighted during the presentation:

·         Edmonton Green Shopping Centre was owned by Crosstree, a small London based investment and development company, which also owned fifty percent of the O2 centre in North Greenwich as well as other developments across London.

·         The owners were hands on.  They were working with well-known architects and top professional teams with the aim of creating a good development for the local people living in Edmonton.

·         The last 9 months had been very tough for the business, but the best performing asset had been the Edmonton Green Shopping Centre. 

·         Since taking ownership of the centre two years ago, many improvements had been put in place.  Four separate engagement events had been held.  Initially some short-term measures had been carried out, including improving customer welfare and family facilities, removing charges and building a playground.  A second stage had included creating a new branding, a way finding strategy, a deep clean, some refurbishment, redecoration, improved lighting, and new seating areas.  A third event had invited people to put forward ideas for a large scale redevelopment.  This had been followed up with a final consultation event on the new proposals. The new designs had been popular. 

·         The market had been a key focus throughout.  The centre contained a diverse range of shops but few of the high street brands.  There was room for improvement; for a wider range of food and drink outlets; for places to bring people together; for measures to make people feel safer; to create new homes and for more greenery.  The developers had spoken to many people including locals, retailers and organisations. 

·         During the first lockdown the centre had continued to perform reasonably well and had returned to 88% of footfall after the first lockdown. 

·         Ninety seven percent of the centre was currently occupied.  Crosstree were keen to keep local independent retailers and had done everything that they could to provide proactive local support.

·         The plans for the new development included a total of 750 new homes with a mix of tenancies and ownerships. 

·         The three tower blocks and Asda did not belong to Crosstree and could not be included in the redevelopment plans although there were plans to improve the residential entrances to the tower blocks to reduce crime and anti social behaviour and link them into the main development.

·         The shopping centre was a brutalist structure originally built in the 1960’s and 70’s and there were now problems with the physical fabric of the building.

·         It was set within the historic environment of Church Street and the busy Fore Street but was set apart, it did not engage socially and architecturally with its surroundings and was not a safe place to be outside of the 9-5 shopping hours.

·         There were many good aspects such as the central location and connectedness to public transport hubs, both bus  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6