A NEW plan has been submitted by a former Marlow resident to develop Riley Road and West Street after councillors threw out Waitrose's applications last week.

Thames Property Solution's vision for Riley Road and West Street includes a 25,770 sq ft retail store set back from the road with a mix of small and medium sized shops, offices and homes.

The development includes Platts Garage site and Sawyer's Funeral Service Chapel of Rest.

Barbara Richardson, managing director of Thames Property Solutions, said: "We will need to discuss with Sawyer's how best to re-provide the mortuary, chapel of rest and the hearse garages to support their business on the site - hopefully no further away from their offices than they are at the moment."

The store's access would be via a new lane and the scheme would retain the listed roofline on West Street.

The design includes using the existing arch to replicate a traditional 18th century carriageway entrance into the lane.

The design brief states that all the buildings within the development would be sympathetic to the context of adjoining buildings and streets and the use of materials would include those already used extensively in Marlow such as brick, render, flint and clay pantiles.

It would also have a basement car park beneath the main store with 17 houses built next to the store overlooking Riley Recreation Ground.

The houses would provide screening for the store when seen from the direction of Riley Recreation Ground, Crown Road and Oxford Road. They would be built over two storeys and have individual private rooftop gardens.

Thirteen flats reserved for affordable housing would be built above the shops along the new lane leading back to the store.

Ms Richardson said she had taken onboard the message about parking and had conducted a two-day car park survey in Marlow at a cost of £9,000.

Her consultants had recommended keeping Riley Road open for use as a service road for shops in West Street at specific times, but erecting temporary bollards during the day for pedestrians.

The public toilets would be replaced and remain open longer than store opening hours for use by visitors and residents at the weekends and in the evenings.

Ms Richardson said: "This plan would not make anyone homeless or involve a compulsory purchase order and it is not seeking to shut anyone down. It has been designed with Waitrose in mind and developed to help businesses.

"It is not set in stone and we have not had a public consultation yet, but we wanted to give people as much information as possible so there was no confusion, although it is only the outline stage."

Marlow 'white knights' outline development

The new outline plans for central Marlow have been submitted by a team who see themselves as "white knights" fighting for the rights of small businesses.

Barbara Richardson, managing director of Thames Property Solutions, said: "I was so worried that if we did nothing the Waitrose plan would get planning permission on appeal and Marlow would have this development forced on them.

"It's an out-of-town superstore parked in the middle of the town centre. I thought there had to be a white knight.

"I am determined this development should be by Marlow for Marlow and I am not going to jump in there with my steel-toe-capped wellie boots. I want to be the facilitator of a Marlow solution and I am determined that small businesses are not going to suffer at the expense of what one big business wants."

An outline planning application was submitted to Wycombe District Council on Monday.

Ms Richardson, a chartered surveyor and former Dean Street resident, set up Thames Property Solutions last year after several businesses contacted her with concerns about their place in the Waitrose plans.

She has a team of 13 people working on the project including Peter Lambert, a founder member of the British Council of Shopping Centres.

Ms Richardson said: "I know and love Marlow. I have lived here for 16 years in Brill Close, Dean Street and Seymour Park and before that I was in Bisham and I still have a house in Dean Street that I am renting out.

"I bring the passion and the local knowledge and Peter has the experience and expertise to make it a vibrant and economically viable development that will be an asset to Marlow and respect the conservation area and the historic architecture rather than swamping the town."

Ms Richardson said the plan had been developed with Waitrose in mind and the scheme could be phased to eliminate the need for a temporary store.

Thames Property Solution has been in talks with a number of Marlow groups, including The Marlow Society and the Chamber of Trade as well as small businesses in West Street.

Ms Richardson said: "We are going to have a series of lunchtime, weekend and evening drop-in sessions to allow people to come and talk to us.

We can have a real conversation and exchange of views about what we can deliver and what the people of Marlow, the users, actually want."