Brentwood Town Centre Renaissance Group

The Brentwood Town Centre Renaissance initiative has been set to to establish and promote the broader vision for the town centre. It is being pursued as part of the Essex Exemplar programme, developed by Essex County Council in partnership with the Essex Planning Officers Association, as an approach to planning delivery that places quality at the forefront of the extensive development agenda that Essex faces.

In particular it seeks to ensure that all investment in the built environment is of high quality and responds to the rich and varied character of the county, with the necessary skills being made available to support project delivery.

The Group is made up of representatives from both the public and private sectors across Brentwood and Essex.

The aims of the Brentwood Town Centre Renaissance Group are to establish the wider vision for Brentwood town Centre, provide the leadership for achievement of the vision and for delivering/enabling a range of improvement projects to enhance the town centre environment.

The work of the Group comprises the following steps to enhance the town centre through the Exemplar Programme over 3 years:

• to create a vision for the town centre involving the development and production of a vision document for Brentwood Town Centre, incorporating future plans and proposals within the area. This will include a 'visioning' workshop with stakeholders
• to look forward, beyond the high street improvement works and gain commitment from stakeholders to support a range of improvements to the public realm
• identification of a key project that will follow the high street improvement works and gain commitment from stakeholders to support a range of improvements to the public realm
• identification of a key project that will follow the high street works and that will act as a further catalyst in the regeneration of the town centre. It has been suggested that St Thomas's Chapel Square may be the best option for this

The Group will steer the visioning work for the town centre, with regular reports from Essex County Council's Built Environment Team as lead for this work. It will also agree the status of the vision, i.e. Supplementary Planning Guidance.

The Group will have an overview on progress of the High Street works and links to other projects and will monitor progress on other key projects.

The Group will report to the Borough Council's Policy Board as necessary and appropriate.

The next Brentwood Town Centre Renaissance Group meeting will take place on 16th June 2009.

Group Membership

Alan Cherry (Chairman) - Countryside Properties PLC

Cllr Brandon Lewis - Brentwood Borough Council

Cllr Russell Quirk - Brentwood Borough Council

Cllr Parker - Brentwood Borough Council

Cllr Le Surf - Brentwood Borough Council

Cllr Parker - Brentwood Borough Council

Nick Abbott - Brentwood Borough Council

Cllr Norman Hume - Essex County Council

Lisa Stroulger - Brentwood Borough Council

Brian Keane - Brentwood Borough Council

Barry Shaw - Essex County Council

Geoff Boyton - Brentwood Borough Council

Mike Hawkins - Brentwood Chamber of Commerce        

Keith Brown - Federation of Small Businesses