Kingston Conservatives want you, the residents of New Malden, to have your say on the future development of the Cocks Crescent. After recent developer-led planning applications, Conservative-controlled Malden and Coombe Neighbourhood wants to bring residents into the debate on how to make the most of this important opportunity, so that together we can strengthen the very heart of New Malden and leave a positive legacy for the future.
Getting your views first, and allowing you to help create a vision for the Council and landowners to work towards, will ensure that the future regeneration of this important area will be achieved with the communities’ support, and not at their cost. The Council-owned Crescent Resource Centre and the Causeway Centre are outdated and need replacement. The Council also owns the Blagdon Road Car Park and the Malden Centre. These sites, together with those in commercial ownership, have the potential to create a new and exciting development that will strengthen and reinvigorate New Malden.
To guide and advise us we invited the New Malden-based company of Architects and Master Planners, Mountford Pigott, to look at the opportunities and produce a range of suggestions for residents to consider. The aim we set them was to provide ideas that would start a meaningful debate, and help us all see what might be achieved. These discussions would then help us compile a Development Brief that truly reflected the aspirations of our residents. It would also ensure that the Brief was firmly based on what was possible and not on impossible dreams.
Mountford Pigott has now had the opportunity to look at how the Council-owned land and neighbouring properties in Blagdon Road could be regenerated. They have created three illustrative options for the public to review and debate. A new Conservative Administration intends to begin a process of community consultation based on this work. The consultation will lead to an agreed Community Development Brief which can be used to guide and inform potential developers.
The three options have common links: each includes a new Library and a new Crescent/Causeway Centre (to replace the two outdated facilities), and retains the existing Malden Leisure Centre in its current form. Each option then explores different design solutions, such as converting the former Spillers building into apartments; providing a digital cinema; and building a new food store and other shops and offices.
Cllr Patrick Codd, Chairman of Conservative-run Malden and Coombe Neighbourhood said “This area is at the very heart of New Malden. We have already had one developer-led proposal which we considered unacceptable. We are pledged to keep services in this location, and we intend to honour that pledge, but we consider it vital to the success of any new development that residents have their say, and have it early in the design process. Mountford Pigott are wonderfully talented, and the three options they have devised for the public to debate are excellent and refreshingly innovative starting points. We will encourage potential developers to join us in this process, and work with us in creating a new and vibrant heart for our community.”
Alan Gaskell, Senior Partner of Mountford Pigott, said “Being based in New Malden, it was a revelation to us that there was a park in Blagdon Road. We think there is huge potential in redeveloping this part of New Malden for residents. We have had years of experience with major regeneration projects in other parts of the country and have found the key to success is to engage the public from the very beginning. We are delighted to have helped Councillors and we hope our work will lead to a genuine public debate which will see the beginning of something very exciting for the future of New Malden Town Centre.”
For immediate use.
For further information contact: Nick Kilby 07753 787358.
Alan Gaskell, Partner 020 8942 8942
The three Design Options are available on PDF on request from Nick Kilby.
Mountford Pigott was formed in the 1920′s and has through the last 20 years has established itself as a very experienced and well recognised retail Architectural practice. Based in New Malden, and with well over 5 million ft² retail space consented and constructed for a wide range of well known private and fund developers,. the firm is of sufficient size to manage without difficulty substantial complex projects, from inception to completion, using the philosophy of listening carefully to the needs of it’s clients and delivering appropriate, innovative but practical solutions meeting time and cost constraints. The Firm’s strengths ensure that a large percentage of work is derived from repeat business, and most of the remainder from recommendation.
The Practice has substantial experience in mixed use developments which incorporate retail, residential, and leisure , many on difficult town centre sites which require multi-level solutions. Of the work undertaken by Mountford Pigott mixed use schemes now predominate, often with an emphasis on community use, with recent examples of consented large scale developments incorporating the major food retailers in Ipswich, Worcester, Aldershot and Hove. A number of other major retail developments are in the pipeline, in locations including Oswestry, Oxford, and Chesterfield.
Much more information is available at www.mountfordpigott.com
