Coulsdon Neighbourhood Partnership
Red Lion Place: Coulsdon Town Square
Sixteen people formed the Working Party set up at the Neighbourhood Partnerships in November 06. The group met four times and agreed this text. We hope the paper will be adopted by the Partnership for use in negotiations between interested parties in revitalising Coulsdon.
The Challenge
Three quotes fro the Coulsdon Area Regeneration Strategy - Coulsdon's office plan - set the context:
"Coulsdon suffers from the lack of a real centre"
"The completion of the bypass provides Croydon Council, working in a partnership with TfL and the community, the opportunity to improve the town's streets, spaces and facilities, and to boost the local economy by attracting new business and new visitors".
"Coulsdon needs to be protected from ill-conceived and isolated developments in order to improve its identity".
A new emphasis on place
In European towns the sun-drenched piazza is still the centre point of town life and the 'cafe-culture'. In America there are at last signs of a reaction against the car-reliant shopping mall in favour of mixed use public spaces at the heart of the community. In Britain there are early signs of a similar change of mood: Poundbury in Dorset; Upton in Northampton; Seaford in Plymouth; Dickens Heath near Stratford; and at Newquay and Inverness. The revitalised Brunswick Centre near Russell Square in London is an excellent regional example and especially relevant to the Coulsdon site. Nearly 400 years after Covent Garden piazza was built, town squares are making a come back.
Coulsdon falls short
The completion of the bypass was meant to signal a marked shift of pace in revitalising Coulsdon. We were told that the town centre was being looked at 'as a whole', and that the reshaping of the Brighton Road through the town would be clearly linked to a wider plan for the whole business centre. We see no signs of this at all. The Neighbourhood Partnership submitted a six page detailed critique of proposals made by TfL and their consultants in the summer of 2006. The consultants have made virtually no change to the ideas presented back then. They have nothing to say about the Red Lion site - except to link a narrow section of its frontage to possible tree planting across the front of Sentinel House reaching the library.
Their proposal to smarten up the section from Lion Green Road to the Red Lion site does not add up to a convincing pubic space - there would still be two way traffic, and increased car parking. The Red Lion site - the focal point and hear of Coulsdon - Is a void in the consultants' proposals for the Brighton Road. Croydon Council too has no positive brief for the site. Our view in contrast is that the Red Lion site offers a great opportunity to develop a town square that would rank high among those being created now in other parts of the country.
The redevelopment impasse
Five planning applications to develop new business on this site have been rejected by the LBC Planning Committee. Scottish and Newcastle Breweries, who owned the Red lion, applied to build a hotel in 1999. It was rejected on the grounds of visual appearance, loss of shopping presence and detriment to pedestrian movement. Two further applications - in 2002 and 2005 - were also rejected. Aldi Supermarkets then bought the site and their two planning applications have been refused: on the grounds of over development, appearance, visual intrusion on neighbours, poor residential quality, traffic circulation, parking and detrimental effect of the provision of a town square.
The brewery's planned hotel would have had 79 bedrooms and 49 parking spaces at ground level. Their later application had 86 bedrooms and 48 parking spaces. Their third effort replaced the hotel idea with ground floor retail, and 38 one or two bedroom flats on two upper floors; and some surface parking. Aldi's second application envisaged ground floor retail space and 52 two or one bedroom flats over five upper storeys. Parking for 92 cars would have been created at ground floor and basement level.
All these schemes generated huge public opposition. The Red Lion site has now laid derelict for almost eight years - the pub itself being demolished in 2004.
The Public's views
Views voiced -by the general public in recent years have demanded a high quality solution for the Red Lion site, documented at length for instance during the consultation procedure for the Coulsdon Area Regeneration Strategy in 2004. The principal suggestions for the site were:
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set back the building line
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create a town square for pedestrians
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incorporate a meeting room
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put in a discreet high quality toilet block
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install CCTV coverage
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include a pub, cafe, and restaurant
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provide seating
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use a sculpture/a water feature/a clock
In addition, there was a support for diverting through traffic from the front of the site and reducing traffic speed in adjacent areas. The present Working Party endorses all these ideas. In combination they would help create an attractive and dynamic central place for the town; one that people would want to visit. Catering for younger people, as well as older people will be important. One of our members canvassed the opinions of some young people. Their views broadly confirm those from the consultation process: 'somewhere to sit', 'pedestrianise the road in front'; engender a community spirit/feel'; 'create something really good to attract people back'; 'be user-friendly for older people'; a quality development'.
Giving Coulsdon a real focal point was central to the Coulsdon Area Regeneration Strategy adopted in October 2004 - Coulsdon office plan. The possibility of achieving this is why Coulsdon was chosen as one of the first ten pilot locations in the Mayor of London's strategy to create 100 new public spaces across the Capital. Failure to incorporate a town square into the site was a factor in Croydon Council's refusal to give planning permission for the Aldi supermarket and associated housing in 2006
Our Perspective
The scheme for the Red Lion site should incorporate an imaginative set of buildings, with a sense of openness; but also with sufficient revenue-earning capacity over a long period of time to repay the cost of the site itself and its development, consistent with a central local.
Coulsdon's designation as a town centre in the UDP carries clear implications for the use of such a central site. On the proposals Map it is allocated for mixed use development shopping and residential. Several other policies are however applicable to the site; office and business use can be permitted in the town centre, as can leisure facilities; community facilities; and tourism attractions. These could be permitted provided their scale is appropriate.
The Red Lion site is small, and access to it is difficult despite its key location. The UDP requires the site to be primarily for the retail category of uses—so adequate car parking, on or close to the site, is essential if developers are to have confidence in its long-term viability for business. Notwithstanding the amount of car parking that can be provided below the site, new businesses will depend on adequate and well distributed on-street and off-street parking, as well as on the traffic circulation system in the central area as a whole.
Many other communities share the problem of High Streets dominated by local traffic so that pedestrian use is restricted. Some successful solutions are illustrated in the four towns chosen to comprise the 'New Life for Main Roads Network' project, to show how community uses can take priority over an area that has come to be dominated by traffic: Bakwell town centre; High Street Evesham; Newland Avenue Hull, Walworth Road Southward.
In Coulsdon's case however, the full answer will surely also lie in solving the circulation system in the town centre as a whole. More of this later.
Our Ideas for the Site
We wish to see buildings of pleasing appearance that will enhance and complement a public square; a complex of space and building elevations that will draw people to, and into, the site.
Our ideas are best organised under the following headings:
General layout
In order to create the square, the layout should be horseshoe shaped. We believe the edge of the space in front of the premises could comprise covered walkways. This will recognise the value of all-year-round, all-weathers, accessibility. The main building would be at the rear of the site. The average building height should be no more than four storeys, but a pyramid structure with higher and lower elevations could make for an attractive and varied appearance, and maximise sunlight penetration to the square. The building complex, as a whole, should be 'inviting' and iconic.
Ground Floor Use
The supermarket with associated storage and offices could stretch along the rear half of the site. The right hand ground floor frontage could be given over to a restaurant/wine bar or shops, and lifts and stairs providing access to the upper floors. The left hand ground floor should comprise:
Either a health centre or public meeting space
An office for the community police
High quality toilet, disabled toilet, and baby changing facilities
Our discussions have indicated strong support for these three elements. Each could be public authority funding assisted.
The confined nature of the site indicates limited options for the ground floor. (There are many other sites in the town centre which are readily available for retail use, without putting the prime emphasis of the Red Lion site for such use).
The Square
We are mindful that the world's greatest public squares—in Siena, Venice, Florence, even Moscow—re paved surfaces without trees. They rely on their ambience and architectural character for their effect. Red Lion Place should do the same. Seating in the form of benches, information display boards, sculpture and a water feature would be key components to enliven the paved surfaces and lead people to frequent the square.
Upper floors
Two possibilities dominated our thinking. Office accommodation is limited in Coulsdon—especially small scale units. There is also a dearth hotel accommodation—though it is thought that a very large hotel development is scheduled for building in the future, closely accessible to Coulsdon. We think either of these uses, given the layout limitations on the site, will be more feasible than residential flats. Accenting business use, rather than residential, will also help extend the catchment area of Coulsdon town centre—something that is badly needed.
Basement parking
We think parking spaces on the site should be restricted to underground space. Only in this way can the town square be created. Previous planning applications have allocated significant ground floor space for parking. A single lower level car park could house up to 90 cars. This, together with closely accessible on-street parking, could meet the parking needs of the supermarket. A relevant factor in taking car parking to lower levels may well be the location of underground streams.
The Working Party examined a number of sketch diagrams showing the layout of the site, access ways, and elevations—to show the feasibility of the development options set out above.
Future possibilities
The model of the traditional suburban village high street where people walked to the shops and everyone knew everyone else no longer applies to Coulsdon: it is the wrong concept for the today for five reasons. There are gaps in Coulsdon's business profile. Coulsdon has to attract back residents who now shop elsewhere and the catchment area has to be widened to compete with neighbouring centres. The pattern of shopping has changed fundamentally with the mix of functions changing accordingly. Moreover Coulsdon is now ranked as a town—designated as such in the Coulsdon Plan.
Sooner rather than later, consideration should therefore be given to pedestrian priority for the Brighton Road in front of the Red Lion site; save for through access for service busses, and other essential service vehicles. This would extend the town square, create a greater sense of place, and allow scope for additional environmental features. It would be the first stage of a scheme to introduce a one-way traffic circulation system that would allow more on-street parking close to the town square.
We recognise that there is both scepticism and hostility currently to the idea of one-way streets in central Coulsdon. Despite fifty years of pedestrianisation elsewhere, and one way streets, many traders and car owners still believe that parking outside the shop of one's choice should be available without limit.
We believe the revitalisation of Coulsdon, will bring more people—and more cars—to the centre, a way will have to be found to marshal traffic flows. Because a one way scheme does not work at Crystal Palace, or in Sutton, does not mean it would not help Coulsdon. A one-way system has clearly to be related to local circumstances—and help prevent speeding (something which signally failed to happen at Crystal Palace and created hostility among residents and traders).
The regeneration game
We come back to the Coulsdon Plan, and what it says about creating a place people want to be vibrant, convenient and comfortable: "...creating public spaces and focal points to improve Coulsdon's sense of place".
Revitalisation has now to progress with urgency if outlay of £33m on the bypass is to be justified. Time is of the essence. TfL's timid proposals for the Brighton Road are not due to be fully implemented until 2009. That is far too late. They were due to commence in 2005 when the bypass was scheduled for completion. TfL and Croydon Council need to demonstrate that they are—in the words of the Plan—committed to playing a pro-active role in encouraging proposals that improve Coulsdon".
We are reminded of John Betjeman writing despairingly in the Spectator fifty years ago about correspondence with a Director of Woolworths:
"I would like to be able to allay people’s fears about your buildings appearing in old towns… I understand your firm no longer insists on a large acreage of plate glass and a brick façade above, but adapts your shops to the scale and texture of the towns where they are to be built".
Back came the reply:
"Our plans have to be passed by the local planning authorities and it is always our endeavour to erect buildings that are a credit to the town in which they are situated".
The Working Party: Dr. Graham Lomas (Chair), Geoff Bacon, Amanda Barnard, Stephen Black, Tom Black, David Denver, Jay Ginn, Maureen Levy, Clyde Malby, Sylvia Nash, Terry Lenton, Phil Norrise, Guy Pitt, Glen Roofthooft, Christine Samson (Secretary), Alison Slater.
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