IT’S BACK

Warwick District Council and its development partner Wilson Bowden will hold a public consultation event ahead of the submission of a revised planning application for the Clarendon Arcade.

In November 2011, plans for the £90 million, 21,500sqm, arcade (pictured above) on the site of the Chandos Street car park were refused on grounds the scheme was too big and would have an adverse effect on those living nearby. But since then the council has commissioned an independent report by planning consultants Strategic Perspectives, which identifies a significant need for new retail investment in the town centre.

Will Robinson, retail director for Wilson Bowden, said: “We’re pleased the report has recognised the requirement for increased retail in the town centre and that there is strong support for a development at Clarendon Arcade.

“We are working with the council again to bring forward a retail-led regeneration scheme at Clarendon Arcade in line with the report.

“Those plans will start to evolve over the coming weeks and there will be a public consultation event ahead of the submission of a planning application.”

The report has concluded that the council will need to meet the need for new shops in line with ‘significant growth in levels of spending’ across the district in the next few years.

It says that the evidence of the need for a retail and leisure scheme of the Clarendon Arcade’s scale is compelling.

This, the report concludes, would draw more trips, money and people to the town centre and help to ‘claw back’ shoppers who are currently ‘leaking out’ of the town centre.

Finally, the report states that the impact of the recession and internet shopping has not dulled the requirement for the the council to identify, allocate and promote new retail development in the town centre in accordance with national planning policy requirements.

The Clarendon Arcade Appraisal can be found on the Evidence Base page at www.warwickdc.co.uk