Penrith New Squares

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New homes at Penrith New Squares

Eden District Councillors and Council officers were offered an exclusive viewing of the new homes being built at Penrith New Squares as part of an information day organised by Riverside at Penrith Leisure Centre.

Guests included the Council's Chief Executive Robin Hooper. Robin said: "I was impressed by the light and space in the new homes and pleased with the architectural style which reflects the traditional building style in Penrith.

"The Council is delighted to be working in partnership with Riverside Housing Association and Sainsbury's in the development of much needed affordable homes to meet the needs of local people. The new homes will consist of 18 two bedroom apartments for those over 55 years of age and 10 two and three 3 bedroom family homes. These new properties will hopefully be available for local people to occupy in Spring 2012."

Riverside is one of the leading social housing and regeneration organisations in the UK, owning or managing around 50,000 homes, from Irvine to Ipswich, with around 2,600 staff.

Patrick Leonard, Riverside Divisional Director said: "Riverside is delighted to be part of the Penrith New Squares regeneration in the heart of Penrith. In partnership with the Homes and Communities Agency, Riverside is able to offer affordable housing to meet a range of housing need and demand.

We seek to transform lives of individuals by providing quality services and better opportunities, whilst revitalising the places they live through investing in our homes and leading regeneration. We also invest in community projects, from youth engagement schemes aimed at reducing anti-social behaviour, to credit union grants tackling financial exclusion.

In Cumbria, Riverside manages 6,000 homes for rent and employs 250 local staff from our office base in Carlisle. These are the first homes Riverside will manage in Penrith and we are pleased to be working with Eden in partnership on this and future projects.

In the afternoon over 85 people registered with Cumbria Choice, choice based letting system, for rehousing in Penrith dropped by to find out more about the new houses and the bidding process.

The first phase of new homes for rent, 18 x 2 bedroom apartments and 10 x 2 and 3 bedroom family homes, will ready to move into in early Spring 2012. A further 18 homes are expected to be available in late 2012. It is anticipated the second phase will include some homes for shared ownership as well as affordable rent.

The properties will be advertised for rent through Cumbria Choice, the choice based lettings system:

• Two and three bedroom houses:
• Bidding opens Thursday 5 January 2012,
• Closing date Tuesday 10 January
• Two bedroom apartments:
• Bidding opens Thursday 19th January
• Closing date Tuesday 24 January

The allocation of properties is subject to eligibility with lettings restricted to people with a local connection to Eden District, covered by a "Section 106" legal agreement. All bids will be subject to verification prior to shortlisting.

To find out more about choice based lettings log onto:

www.cumbriachoice.org.uk

Sainsbury's supermarket and multi-storey car park

The first elements of the New Squares development in Penrith are now open for business; these include a 55,000 sq ft (36,000 sq ft of net sales space) and a new multi storey car park. The new supermarket has created 250 new full and part-time jobs.

Sainsbury's car park charges

Sainsbury's car park offers 3 hours free parking for Sainsbury's customers. (Subject to spending £10 within Sainbury's)
Charges apply Monday to Sunday 24/7, including Bank Holidays. Maximum stay 4 hours. Please follow instructions on signs for obtaining a parking card.

For more information about Penrith New Squares contact Local Dialogue or freephone 0800 319 6162.

Roads works and New Squares

Work is nearing completion on the work being carried out on Penrith's roads as part of the New Squares development. All roads, with the exception of Southend Road, are now open. Work will continue on Southend Road, with completion expected by the end of the year.

Approximately two days' resurfacing work will also need to take place on Castlehill Road before the end of the year. The road will remain open for this work but temporary traffic lights will be in operation. The developer is currently liaising with the council to determine when this work can best take place to cause minimum disruption to road users. The highways work, along with the opening of the new multi-storey car park at Sainsbury's will result in improved traffic flow and parking across the town.

Next steps for Penrith New Squares:

• Improved pedestrian links to the rest of Penrith town centre
• Retail units (Around 93,000 sq ft of new retail space) and new town squares complete by October 2012
• Up to 156 new homes completed by October 2012
• Work to upgrade the Wetheriggs Country Park
• Investment in upgrading the Kemplay roundabout at the southern entrance to Penrith

View Sainsbury's amended plans for the Penrith New Squares development using Eden's online planning application service.

For more information about Penrith New Squares:

Sainsbury's has appointed Leeds based firm Local Dialogue to deal with the media management and community liaison aspects of the development.

A free phone telephone number: 0800 319 6162 is available during work hours for people to contact for more information about Penrith New Squares.

A new website www.newsquares-penrith.co.uk will also be available soon. Sainsbury's will also be issuing regular updates about Penrith New Squares at www.twitter.com/penrithnewsq

For media information about the Penrith New Squares Development contact Local Dialogue.

Penrith New Squares - background, aims and objectives

What are the schemes aims?

The Penrith New Squares development is an extension to Penrith's existing town centre. The scheme is a mixed use development meaning that there will be housing, a multi-storey car park and retail on the site.

It is intended that the scheme will provide benefits to the existing town centre by drawing more people into the area and reverse the trend of people travelling to other centres to do their shopping. Housing will also be provided on the site which will be a mixture of affordable housing and open market housing. This is a particularly important element of the scheme as there is a constant need for more affordable housing in the area.

The Council's Chief Executive, said: "Penrith New Squares is Eden's economic future. The increased number of shops means more people spend money in the District. The town centre development with its enhanced retail offer, multi storey car park, new jobs and affordable homes would limit the threat from new out of town developments for existing businesses."

Why choose Southend Road as the development site?

The area around Southend Road in Penrith was first identified as a site for a potential retail development in 1996. Around that time a number of developers were exploring the possibility of a new major food store and this led to the Council commissioning a retail viability and vitality study to determine whether there was demand for a new food store. These studies confirmed the demand and provided the original justification for a new major development.

In 1999 the Council, as the Local Planning Authority, approved the first planning brief for the site. We also carried out a 'sequential' planning assessment to consider which site could best satisfy this planning brief.

The sequential test first considered any available town centre sites and then moved on to look at 'edge of town centre' sites. If no suitable sites had been identified then this would have opened the way for an 'out of town' site. This exercise identified the Southend Road area as a site which could reasonably accommodate the development and provide the basis for extending the existing town centre.

This approach clearly helped to ensure that this development was delivered in the way which best supported the existing town centre.

The scheme was then subject to the full rigours of competition and this process led to the appointment of a developer on 20 March 2003. Subsequent to this decision, Sainsbury's were appointed as the food store operator for the scheme.

After much discussion with the Council, the scheme was refined and a raft of legal agreements binding the developer and the Council were signed on 1 November 2005.

A Planning Application was submitted very soon thereafter and this was eventually approved.

Following Planning Consent, land acquisition and other approvals the final agreements became unconditional on 3 June 2008 and, at that time, we entered into the long term leases for the site. Also at that time contracts were awarded for the construction of the development.

Why Penrith New Squares is so important?

The scheme has a long and complex past but it is important to note:

• The original demand which underpins the justification for the scheme has increased over the years and the 'need' for the scheme is greater today than it has ever been;
• The town centre will benefit the greatest from the development being based on the site at Southend Road. Any removal or loss of this site would open the door to an 'out of town' development which would potentially be very damaging to the town centre.