Newbury’s Park Way shopping development is back on track after West Berkshire Council reduced the developer’s Section 106 contributions from £3.6m to £2m.
The decision was reached last night after a lengthy meeting last night between the Council’s Western Area Planning Committee and Standard Life Investments and Shearer Property Group which are jointly developing the £130m retail scheme.
West Berkshire Council leader Graham Jones, said: ‘Yes, the community will get less than originally planned for but, importantly, this is not a financial loss or cost to the tax payer. Furthermore, the developer will still fund works to mitigate the impact of the development, including necessary road improvements.
‘The most important point is that the scheme can now go ahead and, once complete, will bring huge benefits to the town and the people of West Berkshire.’
‘The alternative would have been to go back to the drawing board which would have meant the relative dereliction that is currently Park Way would have remained as it is for years to come, benefiting no-one,’ he added.
The arrangement came about after the developers said that rising construction and land acquisition costs were causing them to question the financial viability of the scheme and asked the council to slash their obligations to enable the scheme to go ahead.
Park Way will be anchored by a Debenhams department store and is designed to boost the retail space in the town and provide an improved public frontage to popular Victoria Park. It will also include a multi-storey car park.
The council said the £2m community benefit will go towards improvements in transport, education, crime prevention, healthcare, libraries, community care from social services, and the fire service
Standard Life have said that the approval would allow construction of the new shopping facilities to start in August this year, with the scheme completed in Autumn 2010.
