Bromley councillors reject The Glades £6.2m restaurant expansion plan (From News Shopper)
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Bromley councillors reject The Glades £6.2m restaurant expansion plan
11:05am Wednesday 15th February 2012 in Politics By Robert Fisk
The proposed development was rejected by Bromley councillors last night
HEARING tweeting birds led to councillors narrowly rejecting a £6.2m restaurant expansion plan by The Glades.
Under the plan, the shopping centre’s owner Capital Shopping Centres had wanted to build two separate buildings on the terrace at the back of The Glades, overlooking Queens Gardens, to house five restaurants.
It also wanted to build a kiosk inside the back entrance to the shopping centre.
This application was recommended for approval by Bromley Council’s planning officers whose report said the development would not significantly change the character of the gardens.
But leading the fight against Capital Shopping Centres at last night’s Bromley Council development control committee, Councillor Anne Manning said: “I did a recce of the site for about an hour this morning and there were birds tweeting away to me in parts that would be under concrete.
“Whilst it may not be urban open space by law all this land is open land and is clearly a part of Queens Gardens.
“This is not a large open space but it is a very active open space and I think it needs to be protected.
Although the Hayes and Coney Hall ward councillor says she would not rule out the idea of having one or two cafes in the area.
Councillors including Peter Fookes spoke in favour of the development as Capital Shopping Centres says it would have created 62 full time jobs.
But after much discussion the committee decided to vote against the plan because of the adverse impact on the conservation area, the loss of amenity space and it not being in line with the council’s area action plan.
They also rejected it for the way it would change the appearance of Queens Gardens and because they disliked the proposed design of the buildings.
Comments(4)
right-writes
says...
6:59am Thu 16 Feb 12
Which will lead to the establishment of a coterie of new Pret's, Nero's and Starbucks, and Bromley will remain a food desert.
If Bromley needs anything in terms of eating establishments, it needs some proper street food, but apparently the only street food allowed is the ever expanding Mrs. Bridges.
The employment (apparently lost) is a bit of a misnomer, since the 62 jobs would almost certainly go to people who don't actually live here… yet..., they are still in Krakow.
The best thing that Bromley could do with the Glades is to pull it down, if it wants to see how to develop a proper people centred town it should take a look at Brixton (with its warren of tunnels full of ordinary people opening pop-ups and small one person businesses) or Hoxton/Hackney (with its trendy artist type small businesses and street markets) or any number of other hot spots in and around London.
The massive developments by huge anonymous companies as submitted, are so 80's, and do nothing for ambitious young people that are nurtured in the local area… They all clear out as soon as they can.
goldenbroomboy
says...
8:33am Fri 17 Feb 12
right-writes wrote:The Glades was an improvement on what was there before, which was a few unspectacular nineteen twenties houses, a small car park, & the back of Marks & Sparks. IMHO Bromley Council are correct in not allowing yet more restaurants in central Bromley.
No doubt there will be an appeal, and if that fails there will be a sumission of a revised plan… Which will lead to the establishment of a coterie of new Pret's, Nero's and Starbucks, and Bromley will remain a food desert. If Bromley needs anything in terms of eating establishments, it needs some proper street food, but apparently the only street food allowed is the ever expanding Mrs. Bridges. The employment (apparently lost) is a bit of a misnomer, since the 62 jobs would almost certainly go to people who don't actually live here… yet..., they are still in Krakow. The best thing that Bromley could do with the Glades is to pull it down, if it wants to see how to develop a proper people centred town it should take a look at Brixton (with its warren of tunnels full of ordinary people opening pop-ups and small one person businesses) or Hoxton/Hackney (with its trendy artist type small businesses and street markets) or any number of other hot spots in and around London. The massive developments by huge anonymous companies as submitted, are so 80's, and do nothing for ambitious young people that are nurtured in the local area… They all clear out as soon as they can.
As for wanting Bromley to be more like Brixton, & Hackney....no thanks.
mseven
says...
11:54pm Sun 19 Feb 12
The outdoor restaurants are good for hot days and summer evenings however in the UK there is only about one week a year that we have such weather and for most weeks of the year I doubt they would not get as much use. There was also a kiosk simular to the one proposed on the other enterence near Belgo next to the right of the vending machine which for about 15 years was empty, is now a comunity support officers office.
The problem with the Glades now is it is getting dated and the £6.2 Million could be put towards redecorating it. Modern shopping centres like Bluewater, Centrale, Westfield White City and Stratford City have a sort of ambiance and character to them where as the Glades is mainly white walls and white floor.
As I mentioned before the Glades have a large space inside they can make a food court. The Glades currently plan to make units 202 to 209 (the shops between H&M and Clintons Cards on the upper mall) in to 4 large stores however this area has a long history of being empty, many don't shops want to go in that area because there are not many other shops, before Lillywhites the shops in that part of the Glades were so unwanted that 5 years after the Glades opened some were still empty there was a christmas shop there 2 years running. Even now with H&M and New Look there the units are vacant. 202 has been empty for about 6 years and Lillywhites tried to sell their lease for 7 years without interest from any company.
If the Glades want restaurants instead of making more shops they should convert units 202 - 209 in to a food court, it would be bigger than the previous one. Head is not on a lease so they can make that into a stand alone restaurant and move ModelZone again and turn that in to a kiosk.
smurf4568 says...
4:20pm Wed 15 Feb 12