Vision Invites Comments on Thatcham Town Centre Study

Thatcham's Town Centre Regeneration Study (see West Berkshire Council's website), conducted by consultants Turley Associates, was published at the end of February, 2009. The study comprises 80+ pages of information, including background information to the study, a Town Centre Health Check, a Town Centre Design Audit and detailed Outputs and Recommendations.

The Study was commissioned on behalf of Thatcham by West Berkshire Council and aimed to provide an "evidence base" from which to create future policy. In particular, the objectives were to reinforce Thatcham's identity as an independent thriving market town; to reduce the need for residents to travel elsewhere for their shopping and leisure requirements; and to improve the look and feel of Thatcham.

The study points out that Thatcham has always been in competition with its near neighbour Newbury and has been affected as a result. Thatcham town centre is predominantly a food shopping destination, with 38% of of all retail floorspace in the town dedicated to convenience goods sales (mostly by Waitrose and the Co-Op). Other goods account for only 30% of all shop floorspace (compared with a national average of 55% in other towns).

Thatcham has a number of vacant units in its town centre, in some key locations (Wyatts and Threshers for example). Since July 2004, overall vacancy levels in retail premises in Thatcham have risen from less than 4% to over 12%. The consultants claim that rents for retail premises in the town are "not unreasonable and should not be regarded as a barrier to occupancy" - it may be that one barrier to re-occupation of retail premises is the uncertainty about if and when redevelopments such as that proposed in the Kingsland Centre will go ahead.

The Kingsland Centre nevertheless has the highest pedestrian "footfalls" in the town - most of it associated with the Waitrose store. Many shopper visits to the town centre are purely to visit Waitrose (from the Kingsland Centre car park) and do not extend to the wider town centre. The western end of the High Street especially has lower than average footfall figures for a retail area in a town centre. The consultants concluded that Thatcham town centre had "plenty" of car parking to meet the current range of facilities in the town.

Thatcham town centre was judged to have its own "unique character" with interesting buildings and styles appropriate to the historic town centre. However, some modern developments were criticised for having "unsympathetic frontages" (such as the Co-Op's Broadway frontage). The bland backs of many buildings in the town centre were also felt to give an unwelcoming image to town centre visitors. The consultants thought Thatcham needed "gateways" to welcome all visitors - locals and passers-by - to the town centre.

Six "character areas" in and around the town centre were identified as having different uses and potential, ranging from the "critical corridor" of the Bath Road at the north to the "high quality historic set piece" of Church Gate in the south. Thatcham's Conservation Area, designated in 1980 and based around the Church, made a marked contrast with the unsympathetic modern development around the Kingsland Centre. "There is a clear need to bring forward high quality, contemporary proposals to complement the historic assetts within and adjacent to the town centre", say the consultants.

The Report proposes six Town Centre wide infrastructure projects and seven site-specific projects that could lead to improvements within the town centre. In particular, the Report looks at the proposal made by Thatcham Vision for a new, centrally located community facility (and suggests five potential sites for it in the town centre, including the Kingsland Centre and The Priory). This could be the home of a new Library for Thatcham and would have the effect of creating a genuine "hub" for the community to the greater good of the town.

WHAT DO YOU THINK? CONSTRUCTIVE COMMENTS WOULD BE WELCOMED!

LET THE VISION HAVE YOUR COMMENTS ABOUT THE REPORT AND ITS CONTENTS, ESPECIALLY THE KEY PROPOSALS IT MAKES TO IMPROVE THATCHAM.