While demand for housing is stimulating development in High Wycombe, new leisure and retail schemes are boosting life in nearby Aylesbury. By Elaine Cavanagh
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High Wycombe |
Aylesbury |
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The unstoppable march of housing development is making its presence felt in High Wycombe. A succession of sites previously zoned for employment have been lost to residential development – so much so that local agents are now becoming increasingly twitchy about the town’s ability to maintain its historic appeal – to industrial occupiers in particular. Its location – close to three M40 motorway junctions – has made it attractive to incoming occupiers who recognise the benefits of the access this affords to Heathrow and London. But when it comes to retaining this magnetism, local topography is one of the problems facing High Wycombe’s planners. Charles Miller of Duncan & Bailey-Kennedy explains: “The area attracts interest from many companies – increasingly from the IT sector – but now we have nowhere to put them. “The local authority is very conscious of the fact that brownfield sites have gone to residential and that employment land has not been replaced.” The main issue remains, however, that the town is surrounded by green belt land. “There is pressure on the authority to release more land but there is not much it can do,” adds Miller. Lance Slater of Slater Associates concurs: “It’s not easy to find sites for employment development.” Prior to the new wave of companies that have been eyeing up opportunities in the town, the name High Wycombe had been synonymous with the furniture industry. Housing developers take up land However, employment areas occupied by these manufacturers figure strongly among those that are being snapped up by housing developers. Most recently, Ercol Furniture announced its decision to relocate to Princes Risborough. Its 4ha (10 acre)-plus site at Spring Gardens on the London Road, to the east of the town, has already been earmarked for housing development. This, says Slater, follows G-Plan’s vacation of an adjacent site in favour of a new complex at Chipping Norton. Its previous home is being developed by Fairview Homes. But, says Slater: “It is disappointing that more new land has not come on to help meet other areas of demand.” “We are about to meet a problem whereby, unless some more land is rezoned, there are going to be difficulties in terms of the growth of existing companies and in our ability to attract outside companies.” D&B-K’s Miller points to other worries, saying: “There is very low unemployment here and it is a buoyant area. To maintain that we need more businesses.” The draft deposit local plan for Wycombe district is nearing its public inquiry stage, however, and its eventual adoption could ease the situation. As Clive Brocklehurst of Aitchison Raffety explains, while the plan makes no new allocation for business park space, employment land will be protected. And commercial development will be directed towards existing office and industrial areas. “While High Wycombe could undoubtedly support a new business park, there are brownfield sites suitable for regeneration and these will become apparent under the new plan,” he adds. Meanwhile, according to D&B-K’s Miller, Slough Estates’ activities at Cressex Business Park form the only significant industrial development in the town. Construction began recently on Slough’s 9,476m2 (102,000 sq ft) complex – comprising nine units – at Coronation Road. Joint agents Duncan & Bailey-Kennedy and Healey & Baker are quoting rents in the region of £92 per m2 (£8.50 per sq ft) on the units, which are scheduled for completion in August. Slough is not alone, however, in its activities at Cressex. Barclays Property Holdings is poised to begin the third phase – a 2,415m2 (26,000 sq ft) factory with office content – of its Merlin Centre, in Lancaster Road. Meanwhile, Slater Associates’ Slater, joint agent with Fuller Peiser, confirms further letting activity at the five-unit second phase. Local occupier Rye Machinery has just taken two units there – joining the Post Office and Telegenics. “Wycombe is a very prosperous town and there is strong underlying demand for space,” Slater says. In the retail market, everyone in the town is holding their breath to see when – or whether – the £90m Western Sector will take off. The 43,663m2 (470,000 sq ft) retail, leisure and residential scheme – to be anchored by House of Fraser – has been on the cards several years. Now joint developers High Wycombe district council and MAB, with Great Portland Estates on board as funder, are locked in discussions with Tesco in an attempt to reconcile planning differences. The supermarket occupies a 7,432m2 (80,000 sq ft) store at the heart of the development site and has raised legal objections to compulsory purchase orders that have been issued by the council. Lee Dawson, project manager at the council, explains: “We have always wanted Tesco to form part of the scheme but, at 20,000 sq ft, the size of unit we can offer is not comparable to what it has now. “Neither of us wants to be in this position and we are trying hard to reach a compromise.” A High Court hearing is scheduled for May should discussions fail. But, says Dawson: “That will be a last resort. I still feel confident we can resolve things.” |
Nearby, Aylesbury’s leisure offer has been boosted by the pre-Christmas opening of CTP’s 5,110m2 (55,000 sq ft) scheme at Exchange Street. It comprises a six-screen ABC multiplex, Hogshead, Yates’s Wine Lodge, Chicago Rock and a Multiyork furniture store. “Unlike a lot of other leisure schemes in the area, which are more out of town or edge of town, this is right in the town centre,” comments Kirk Clifford of Clifford & Billings. “A lot of other restaurants are coming into the town on the back of this.” Mark Barnes of King Sturge, the scheme’s letting agent, adds: “There was no cinema within half-an-hour’s drive and the catchment demonstrated that this was really needed.” Retail scheme nearing completion Meanwhile, Cairn Property Holdings and Easter Group are completing their Brittania Walk retail scheme, anchored by Wilkinsons. “This will help to encourage the pedestrian flow into the lower part of the high street,” says Clifford. A proposed extension of nearby Cambridge Close retail warehouse park could also improve the area. Aylesbury’s office market remains generally quiet. According to Clifford, rents are “substantially lower” than in other parts of South Buckinghamshire, which discourages new development. The recently completed Millennium House in Walton Street is the only new build of its scale and type. “Rents being quoted there are £16.50 per sq ft,” says Clifford. “They would be more like £24 or £25 if this was High Wycombe. We are just that little bit further away from the motorway.” Lambert Smith Hampton is marketing the 2,304m2 (24,800 sq ft) Millennium House, developed by local company ICECO, as a headquarters building for a sole occupier. New-build development may be scarce, but there has been some activity in the secondhand market. New to the town, the Kennel Club has relocated its administration and customer support departments from central London into two buildings on Alton House Business Park. And existing occupier, mobile phone accessories specialist ORA Electronics, has recently moved to Spectron – a 4,181m2 (45,000 sq ft) headquarters and distribution unit including 1,301m2 (14,000 sq ft) of offices – on Griffin Lane. |
