BACKGROUND

Hounslow Borough Council produced an Urban Design Brief in 1998 for the South side of High Street Brentford.  In 2000 Kim Wilkie produced a High Street study for English Heritage reviewing development proposals by Brentford Town Centre (BTC) Ltd - the previous owners of much of the land (high res version of study).  The Council delivered the Planning officers report on the BTC Ltd proposals in 2000.  A year or so later and, despite planning permission being secured (if a legal agreement could be concluded), the planning process stalled over the legal agreement between Council and BTC Ltd.  

In 2001 the Grand Union Canal and Boston Manor conservation area was established, which includes some elements of the site.  

In the Summer of 2006 Geronimo Ltd, became the majority landowner of land south of the High Street. Geronimo has given Ballymore an option to purchase, subject to the receipt of a planning permission to redevelop the land.  Ballymore is dedicating staff and resources to Geronimo to ensure the best planning permission is obtained as Ballymore are serious about going forward with the site. For a period of time Building Design Partnership (BDP) were taken on as the project architects.  They are now (2010) looking to recruit new masterplaners for the project. 

The time therefore seemed right in 2007 for a new community led initiative to develop a "clearly defined expression of the local community’s vision for the future of Brentford High Street".  This became the Brentford High Street Steering Group's first project: a community planning process that brought together the whole community in shaping a vision for Brentford High Street's future.

Many other places have managed to achieve successful, sustainable town centre development that contributes to a good quality, so we felt why shouldn't the Brentford community?  The focus of the project was on finding a sustainable future for the High Street - supported by the whole community - that avoids Brentford becoming another part of Clone Town Britain.

We used tools including...

• Community Planning
• Main Street - revitalising your commercial district

With the community planning project complete the work of the Steering Group is now focused on implementing as many of the recommendations as possible.  This is with the long term goal of a "High Street that has regenerated in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner – a beacon for communities elsewhere." 

WORK SO FAR...

Hosted by Grand Union Community Development, on Thursday 6th October 2006 we had our first meeting of a steering group to look at the potential for creating a community vision for the future of Brentford High Street.  Follow this link to view the presentation discussed at the First stakeholder meeting .

On Monday 20 November Hounslow Council's "Community Investment Panel" committed £15k to this six month project.  Management support for the project is being provided by Grand Union Community Development.  The New Economics Foundation will provide specialist support on High Street regeneration and local economics.

To see Land Registry research into the ownership of land South of Brentford High Street visit the Brentford Community Council website for a map.

At the second meeting of the steering group on Wednesday 13th December 2006 Thematic sub-groups were agreed to take forward specific areas of research from studying the High Street's economy to developing urban design ideas.  Please contact the group co-ordinator if you would like to get involved in their work.  The group also established the Brentford High Street Steering Group - Terms of reference and endorsed the nominations for Chair and Vice-chair.

The third meeting took place on Thursday 11th January from 6.30-7.30pm at Grand Union Community Development.  An update and overiew was presented to the Third steering group meeting  and then Cllr Barbara Reid (Lead member for Environment & Planning) who was attending shared her reflections on the High Street with Steering Group members, as well as listening to their views. 

The first issue of High Street News - Jan 2007 promoted the official launch of the initiative on the evening of Thursday 18th January at Watermans Arts Centre.  You can read the Project overview , watch videos of the launch event or read a Summary of the ideas the community put forward.

The fourth meeting of the High Street steering group proofed and signed off the second issue of High Street News - Feb 2007 on Monday 12 February.  It was released in late February and outlined the series of sub-group workshops that ran through March.  For more information visit the Thematic sub-groups page.

The fifth meeting of the steering group - where we started reflecting on workshop outputs - took place on 29 March from 6.30-7.30pm at Grand Union Community Development.

On Wednesday 11 April 2007 Cllr Phil Andrews and Cllr Dakers met with the developers Geronimo/Ballymore and their architects BDP.   Areas covered and detailed in the minutes included: next stages of consultation, end of tenancies and the presentation of the High Street frontage.  This followed a meeting earlier in the year between Cllr Reid, Cllr Thompson and the developers. 

The sixth meeting of the steering group on Thursday 26th April reviewed the draft community vision report.  Significant additional input was provided by residents of Town Wharf following this meeting. 

The seventh meeting of the steering group on Thursday 31st May reviewed feedback from developers Ballymore/ Geronimo on the draft report.  A representative of the developers Geronimo/ Ballymore, Rebekah Paczek, attended the meeting.  The High Street Steering Group sent a lengthy Response to Ballymore following the meeting.  High Street News - June 2007 which summarises the draft report recommendations and promotes the report back event at Watermans (19th June) was reviewed by email prior to the meeting.

Over sixty people attended the Community report back event on Tuesday 19th June hosted by Watermans Arts Centre.  You can download the Overview - Part 1 and Overview - Part 2 presentations that were delivered on the night.  We also considered the Value tree proposal from William Haardman.  This is likely to lead to a follow up workshop. 

You can now watch videos of the community feedback event (19 June) and you can now download the Steering Group response to community feedback - released on 16 July 07.

Eighth meeting of the steering group on Thur 21st June, 6.30pm, GUCD was cancelled.

Read the minutes of the Ninth meeting of the Steering Group at 6.30pm on Thur 26th July started to focus on practical actions coming out of the High Street Vision.

Minutes of Tenth Steering Group meeting on Thursday 30^th August 2007, 6.30pm at Grand Union Community Development where we focused discussion on the launch of www.BrentfordHighStreet.com, a companion print guide to the High Street, fundraising for Christmas lights and the High Street car park.

Minutes of the Eleventh Steering Group meeting  on Thursday 20^th September 2007, 6.30pm at Grand Union Community Development.  Discussion focussed on signage and street scene issues, as well as Christmas.

Andrew Dakers met representatives of Waitrose on Tuesday 25th September 2007 at Grounds Coffee Bar, Brentford.  The meeting, which lasted about an hour, was to learn what Waitrose feel they bring to town centre regeneration and also what their experience has been elsewhere in the UK. 

Twelth Steering Group meeting Thursday 18^th October 2007, 6.30pm at Grand Union Community Development discussed progress on Christmas Season.  Disappointment was expressed at the slow progress of the new High Street Car Park.  Cllr Dakers agreed to chase updates on this, signage and planting discussed at the previous meeting.

The final report coming from the Young peoples conference on 26 March 2007 was released in early November: Creating a community vision - 26 March 2007 - this is a 1Mb download.

Final draft of the Community Vision report Brentford High Street - The Community Vision - November 2007 was released on 6th November 2007.  Be warned this is an 11.7Mb download.

On Thursday 8th November 2007 a team from the High Street Steering Group presented the final report to Isleworth and Brentford Area Committee.  The report was widely welcomed by members.  For presentation see Brentford High Street - The Community Vision - 8 Nov 2007

The High Street News - Winter 2007 issue was reviewed by email by the steering group sub-group leads and will be going out across Brentford in late November.