Henderson’s £105m Old River Lane scheme in Bishop’s Stortford appeared to tick all the boxes, but local protests and the town council’s disapproval have complicated matters. David Thame reports on the scheme’s travails and what the future holds
Henderson Global Investors must have thought it was launching a dream development at Bishop’s Stortford. With a nice, neat site, a wealthy catchment and a regional authority that was happy to co-operate, everything was looking good.
But with local protests gathering strength, the town council voicing its opposition and the supportive East Herts council facing the auditor’s spotlight, the £105m Old River Lane project risks becoming a nightmare.
Even sympathetic friends of the retail-led development believe its projected 2014 completion date looks optimistic. “More like 3014,” says one, almost seriously.
Until last summer’s public consultation, everything had looked sunny. Henderson hoped to undertake a straightforward development. East Herts council aimed to be released from a long lease on an office block owned by Henderson. In return, the council sold Henderson a car park next door, which enabled it to control a 10-acre site known as “the Causeway”.
This could accommodate the 160,000 sq ft of retail floorspace, which the council had decided Bishop’s Stortford needed.
In November 2010, plans were submitted that included 100 flats, a 30,000 sq ft department store, an extension to an existing Waitrose store, 35 shops, two restaurants, a cinema and 670 car-parking spaces. If the project receives consent this spring, as Henderson hopes, construction will begin in summer 2012.
However, at a packed planning meeting this month, members of the town council voted against the project on grounds including traffic congestion and overdevelopment. The final decision now lies with East Herts council.
Even before the town council voiced its displeasure, Henderson was set rocking on its heels by an unexpected barrage of protest at the public consultation. The land deal at the Causeway between the council and the developer has also sparked controversy and calls for a special auditor’s investigation (see panel, p67).
Speaking of local opposition, Henderson development director Martin Perry says: “We were taken aback by the strength of ill feeling on a number of issues, and very vocal people were, too. The Saturday of the exhibition was quite difficult. People were really wound up. They thought we were the face of the council.”
Robert Hannah, chairman of local group the Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation, argues that the scale of the proposed development is worrying.
“The council hasn’t given Bishop’s Stortford much attention and has approved ugly developments in the past,” he says. “Henderson took the full blast of venom about the council, which had been building up for years, and I feel sorry for them.”
The group has also expressed doubt that there is enough demand for retail space to justify the scheme, and that demand for new-build apartments has been slow in the town.
Henderson’s Perry insists the scheme will not flood Bishop’s Stortford with unwanted shopping space. He says that the developer’s aim is to tempt visitors attracted to a newly expanded Waitrose to linger a little longer in Bishop’s Stortford. High-end fashion, a small department store, restaurants and a cinema are part of the developer’s offer.
“Today, shoppers come into the town to buy food at Waitrose, but go to Cambridge or Harlow for everything else. We think by 2014 we’ll be able to offer them reasons to stay in Bishop’s Stortford,” he says.
“Clearly, Bishop’s Stortford is in decline as a shopping town. This is not a mega-scheme. It’s been carefully pitched at the Waitrose shopper, and it respects the market town environment. We’re trying to build a lot of localism into it. We want the market to work better in the square, and we want to tap into local farms and local events,” adds Perry.
Suggestions that the town cannot cope with more retail floorspace are also dismissed by Grace Bagster, manager of the town’s existing 250,000 sq ft shopping centre, Jackson Square, which is held within David Ross’s Kandahar Group portfolio. She points out that the scheme is 85% occupied.
Bagster says: “I’m not worried by Henderson. It is aiming at the Waitrose shopper. We are aiming at something more mid-market. It’s not like Henderson is proposing shed loads of shops, and everyone agrees a cinema would be good.”
Henderson’s planning application is expected to go before planners at East Herts council this spring. In a statement, a council spokesperson emphasised that it was not in a partnership with Henderson, and that while the council had been supportive in general, the development control committee would examine the plans in the regular way.
Henderson’s Perry insists the developer is not about to run away from the scheme. But, so far, Old River Lane has been anything but straightforward.
Lights, camera, action at Leavesden
Last November, film studio Warner Bros committed £100m to the expansion of Leavesden studios, near Watford. The deal with developer MEPC, which will include a Harry Potter visitor centre, opens the way for the studio’s first permanent base outside the US.
The proposal is the latest incarnation of plans, nurtured since at least the mid-1990s, for a film studio and theme park at the 280-acre former Rolls-Royce auto-engine plant at Leavesden airport.
The site first attracted film-makers after Rolls-Royce left in 1993. In 1996, the complex was used to film the James Bond film Goldeneye when existing studio space was unavailable. It has since been used to make all eight films in the Harry Potter franchise (pictured) and a host of other big-name movies.
Warner Bros now plans to redevelop around 170 acres. MEPC, which has been letting studio space to Warner Bros on rolling three-year leases since 1997, also hopes the deal will benefit its remaining 35-acre holding. Its plans for a business park on the site were abandoned long ago, and before that, plans for a Movie World theme park hit the cutting-room floor.
MEPC director James Dipple says: “We bought the site, in chunks, during the 1990s, but the theme park idea didn’t catch on and we could not find enough demand for a business park. We’re looking at residential for most of the remaining land, although we have empty space in some of the 120,000 sq ft of offices, which we hope will attract film companies. With the Warner deal in mind we’ve also got permission to redevelop one building as a 120-bedroom hotel.”
East Herts Council’s and Henderson’s deal under the spotlight
Last spring, the district auditor was asked to intervene after a monitoring report by accountant Grant Thornton raised a number of concerns about East Herts council’s sale of a car-park site in Bishop’s Stortford to Henderson Global Investors, which has plans for a mixed-use development (see main text).
Former independent councillors Nigel and Deborah Clark – who later quit in protest at the council’s Conservative ruling elite – called for the investigation.
Councillors were told that there was not a proper overarching business case for the council to relocate to Hertford from offices, owned by Henderson, adjacent to the car park.
They were also told that the council’s approach did not comply with HM Treasury Green Book guidance to public sector bodies on the appraisal of significant financial projects.
It is claimed that decisions to narrow down the options for the Causeway site were taken by the council’s executive and officers behind closed doors.
What happens next is uncertain. There are rumours in the town that opponents of the scheme could take the matter to court.
Richard Hannah of local group the Bishop’s Stortford Civic Federation says that his organisation does not have the funds to take the matter further, but adds: “We don’t believe the council made a proper economic argument for selling the car park and centralising its offices.”
Henderson says that the Grant Thornton report backed the project, quibbling only on details of procedure. East Herts council says that all of its processes have been audited.
