Agenda item

Sittingbourne Town Centre Update

The Cabinet Member for Regeneration, the Director of Regeneration and the Sittingbourne Town Centre Scheme Manager have been invited to attend for this item.

Minutes:

The Vice-Chairman-in-the-chair welcomed the Cabinet Member for Regeneration, the Director of Regeneration, the Sittingbourne Town Centre Scheme Manager and Huw Evans, Richard Blackwell and Steven Lee Sang from Spirit of Sittingbourne (SoS) to the meeting.  The Cabinet Member for Regeneration introduced the report and invited questions from Members.

 

Members asked questions which included:

 

·        Were the schedule of the works in Station Street, the station forecourt and the new bus hub area on target?; (bullet point 3 in the report);

·        at what stage was the piling at?; (bullet point 6 in the report);

·        what progress had been made with implementing Central Avenue one-way, and had the concerns of businesses been addressed?;

·        who decided that SoS could give free parking at Christmas and who funded the promotion?; and

·        were any further changes to the roundabout planned to assist HGV’s and buses?

 

In response, Richard Blackwell said that the works at Station Street were on target and that surfacing would be laid once the surface temperature had increased.  Steven Lee Sang said that piling to the hotel was complete and was due to be finished at the cinema next week.  The Sittingbourne Town Centre Scheme Manager said that the Central Avenue design was complete and Kent County Council (KCC) would be issuing a formal notice with a start date.  He added that businesses would be notified in advance once a start date was agreed.  The Director of Regeneration advised that the free Christmas parking was funded by SoS.

 

Richard Blackwell advised that any improvements on the roundabout were still being agreed with KCC, although the modelling appeared to work.  He added that maintenance of the roundabout would be picked up as part of the 12 months maintenance period.

 

A Member asked why Wildwood withdrew from the development?  In response, the Director of Regeneration said that this was down to the national trend of Wildwood and nothing to do with the Sittingbourne Town Centre Regeneration project.  She advised that of the seven units, three were currently let and one was currently in negotiation to be let.  She added that she was confident that once the physical build of the units was under way by April 2019, there would be more interest in the final three units.   

 

In the debate that followed, a Member questioned the timing of the press release and how accurate it was.  In response, the Director of Regeneration said that Wildwood had withdrawn from the project some time ago but in order not to affect the market, the information was not released until Nando’s had agreed to come on board.  The Cabinet Member for Regeneration explained how the pattern of recruiting businesses to the scheme operated and advised that there were originally only six units.

 

In response to a Member’s question, Huw Evans agreed to find out the actual cost of the free parking promotion at Christmas and confirmed that it was paid for by SoS.

 

A Member asked a question about advertising of partners involved in the scheme.  In response, the Director of Regeneration said that all the restaurant chains, partners and the SBC logo would be displayed on the hoardings on the leisure site.

 

The Chairman asked for the phasing of the traffic lights at the train station to be looked at, said that the frontage to the station was not being used correctly, asked whether a non-food outlet would be considered for the units on the leisure site and asked who Cushman & Wakefield were?  Richard Blackwell advised that the traffic lights were self-phasing with overhead sensors that predicted traffic flows and the frontage drop off to the station was being looked at with South East Rail and KCC, and would be monitored during the maintenance period.  The Director of Regeneration said that consideration would be given to an alternative use of a unit if it suited the location.  She said that Cushman & Wakefield were an experienced commercial property company that managed assets for organisations and had been working with SBC on preparations for the car park and leisure facilities.

 

The Director of Regeneration referred to the communications meeting that took place between SBC, SoS and the Lowick Group and advised that more effective communication was being addressed.

 

Finally the Director of Regeneration highlighted the recent video about the scheme, available to view on Kent On-line.

 

The Vice-Chairman-in-the-chair thanked the visitors for attending the meeting. 

Supporting documents: