St Johns Entrance
Old Basing Mall North Facing
Castle Square South East Facing
Castle Square North West Facing
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Public exhibition
Residents, visitors and shoppers to The Malls shopping centre on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 July had the opportunity to see and comment on the new plans for the shopping centre, being unveiled by the council.
The exhibition was held in a shop unit on Castle Square, near to Primark from 11am until 4pm. The exhibition will included architect’s designs and images as well as a 3D computer generated virtual tour showing how the centre will look in the future.
Scheme proposal
The aim of the scheme is to revitalise The Malls to create a modern open-air shopping centre with attractive public areas, as well as providing a more welcoming entrance to the town from the railway station and bus interchange.
Virtual tour
Consultation
An extensive consultation exercise was carried out in December 2008. The purpose of the consultation was to seek views of the public on the two themes that had been developed on how the Malls could look in the future. To encourage feedback, questionnaires were handed out at the exhibition and further consultation was carried out via the council's website. In excess of 500 people attended the exhibition in the shop unit with over 250 questionnaires being completed by variety of age groups. A further 97 questionnaires were completed on line via the council’s web site, providing a total of over 350 responses.
The public exhibition carried out was promoted through press releases, advertisements, radio interview with the portfolio holder and a two day exhibition held in the former Sharpe Moben unit in The Malls on 17th and 18th July 2009.
To encourage feedback, comment sheets were provided under the heading of 2let us know what you think" pamphlets and these were handed out at the exhibition. Further consultation was also carried out through the BDBC Web site. There have been further press articles about the final proposals and the exhibition event.
The majority of the comments expressed at the event and through the pamphlets etc. is that the final proposals are what the town needs and that the council had taken on board many of the comments expressed at the initial consultation. Very few negative comments were expressed regarding the overall scheme proposals; these were mainly aimed at the lack of any proposal to the St John Walk area; and the issue of making The Malls a no smoking area and improving the shopping offer.
Summary of Consultation Outcome
All in all the people and bodies consulted were "at one". All agreed with the need to improve The Malls. Furthermore, all felt that the general proposal of moving the low level canopies, providing full weather protection, treating the first floor facades and making the centre light bright and airy, with Castle Square as a focal point, were the correct way forward. There was aclear preference for the more traditional street scene created through the verticality arising from the use of differing first floor facade treatment materials and colours. It was further stressed that there is the need to consider all centre areas including access points; and the proper provision of facilities such as toilets, seating, litter bins etc. however, none wished to see the centre cluttered.
Planning
Folowing the above consultation outcomes, a presentation was made to a members advisory panel and senior officers during September 2009. These gave approval for the scheme to be developed and for the scheme submitted to the council development control department for planning approval. The submission was made in October 2009 and planning approvalwas granted in early December 2009.
What next
The council are currently seeking tenders from suitable contractors to work with the council and it's designers to finalise the detail design, cost of the works and agree a programme for carrying out the works. It is the Council's intention for the works to commence in the spring of 2010 with completion in the the summer of 2011.
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