· Update on the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre (Delancey)
· East Street Market Update
· Walworth Road Business Network Group
Minutes:
Walworth Road Network Group
William Mubiru, Section Manager at the Walworth Road Marks and Spencer, appealed to local businesses to come together in a retail forum to come up with ideas how to benefit from the development at Elephant Park.
In answer to questions from the floor, the chair said that the council was aware of the problem of there being a lot of betting shops and payday lenders in Walworth Road, and had worked with community groups, as well as many businesses of the same type (like nail bars), however, the council’s hands were often tied by the planning legislation.
Responding to questions from councillors, William said that the local M&S was not under threat of closure for the time being, and that he hoped the development at Elephant Park would be good for the businesses on Walworth Road, which is why it was important to have a business forum for Walworth Road.
East Street Market Update
Nicky Costin, from the council’s environment department, introduced the changes to East Street which would be rolled out, including the branding, the 60-70 new gazebos which would help get rid of the clutter and shops overstretching. These had been funded by roughly £500,000 from the GLA. There would be a new street food area near Nursery Row Park which it was hoped would bring shoppers into market. The Walworth Road entrance to the market would also be changed. The new brand would be launched at Easter.
In response to questions from the floor, Nicky said that the gazebos would be made available to traders free of charge and owned by the council. The costs would be covered by the rent and it was hoped that the gazebos would encourage new traders to come. There were no plans to increase the rents in the near future. The arch currently located at the Walworth Road entrance to the market would be relocated to the new street food area, and replaced by a lighted sign. The markets management team had put embargoes on some types of stall, of which there were already many present in the market. The quality of the goods sold could not be controlled by the council, but the customers would be voting with their feet. Nicky further explained that the consultation about these changes had been carried out by a company called “We made this” on behalf of the GLA, as part of the money being awarded. Shop-front licences would be discontinued. The council was also prosecuting shop-owners and fly-tippers. In addition to this, the rubbish compactor in East Street would be removed, and a drift lorry would be coming through five times a day instead.
Update on the Elephant and Castle shopping centre
Kim Humphreys informed the meeting that a public consultative exhibition had taken place in the summer with 750 people participating. A planning application had been submitted, and would be shortly going out to consultation. He highlighted some of the main features of the proposals: a 500-seater performance venue, shops, a new public space, the new London College of Communication (LCC) site, 1,000 homes and the new tube station. The residential properties would be rental with an affordable, tenure-blind housing component. In terms of the timetable, the application will be determined in the first quarter of 2017, with works to begin by 2018. The shops would open five years later - by 2023. The works would begin with the shopping centre site and continue on the LCC and Underground sites.
Responding to questions from the floor, Kim said that the shopping centre was scheduled to close at the end of 2017 (or in early 2018). Some of the phase 1 retail units on Elephant Square would be offered to existing Elephant and Castle traders. The Latin businesses in Elephant Road were not Delancey’s tenants, but Delancey was working with the Latin businesses in the shopping centre and was keen for the Latin flavour of the area not to be lost, for example by an archway swap.
The meeting heard that the council had a challenge in terms of accommodating a general increase in population with limited means. There was a primary schools places expansion programme. The council had no power over secondary schools, but there were plans to open a new secondary school in the old Southwark fire station. Some GP surgeries would be moving to bigger health centres.