Will centre bring a 'Watford Gap'?

SHOPPERS and shopkeepers alike have voiced concern over development plans for High Wycombe town centre.

The district council's £70m western sector development scheme proposes a new bus station, library, nine-screen cinema, supermarket and shopping complex.

Wycombe District Council is working in partnership with Dutch developers MAB to progress the scheme, which is currently the subject of a planning inquiry.

A major department store is being sought by developers as a flagship to attract shoppers from other centres such as Watford and Reading.

Rodney Holmes, director of MAB, told Midweek the company was talking to the House of Fraser and Marks and Spencer, which are both interested in the opportunity.

These talks raise the possibility of Marks and Spencer relocating from its current home in the Chiltern Centre to the new site, south of the Oxford Road. A spokesman for Marks and Spencer said that at this stage there were no firm plans to relocate to new premises in the town.

Shoppers in and around the Chiltern Centre were asked if such a move would affect their shopping habits.

Simon Harris, 56, a British Telecom engineer who works at Telecom House in Easton Road, says: "I get less than an hour for my lunch and I wouldn't go to Marks and Spencer if it moved to the Western Sector. I use other shops in the Chiltern Centre, but only because Marks and Spencer is there."

Mr Harris adds: "I'd probably not bother doing any shopping at all in Wycombe if Marks and Spencer wasn't down the road from work. I live in Reading, so I'd shop there instead."

Val Cremin, 43, of Cedar Avenue, Hazlemere, says: "If I come into Wycombe to shop it's always to use Marks and Spencer. If they built a bigger one in the Western sector like the one in Watford, then that would be great. I'd go to the Western sector to shop instead."

Robert Pierce, 55, of Amersham Hill, says: "I'm concerned by the way the district keeps moving the shopping centre around. They should keep the town centre where it is and work from it, not develop off in other directions."

Sales consultant Mr Pierce adds: "If you took Marks and Spencer out of the Chiltern Centre then you may as well bulldoze the whole thing."

Rachael Burton, 18, is a shop assistant at Kishimo Jim, in the Octagon Centre. She says: "The new development would bring more trade for the shop. I like the idea of it, with the cinema and bars and everything - Wycombe really needs something like that to vamp it up."

Miss Burton, of Valley Road, Hughenden Valley, adds: "I work and shop in Wycombe but the Marks and Spencer here isn't as good as the one in Milton Keynes, for example."

Independent retailers opposite the Chiltern Centre agree that their trade benefits from being close to Marks and Spencer.

Sarah Morgan, 17, is general assistant at Names and Frames in Church Street.

She says: "Losing Marks and Spencer would hurt our trade. People come out of Marks and Spencer, they see us here and are tempted in.

She adds: "I think we would survive, but it would be harder trade-wise."

A second Church Street trader, who requested not to be named, says she uses Marks and Spencer herself, and much of her passing trade is from the department store's customers. But the shop manager welcomed the new development on a personal level, saying she thought it would be a big improvement on the facilities currently available in the town. INDEPENDENT traders have highlighted the possible downside of a new shopping complex at the Western sector development site.

Concern focuses on the so-called Watford-effect. Retailers close to the proposed development fear the building of a big new shopping complex - like the Harlequin centre in Watford - could be the death knell for many independent traders in the town.

The experience of traders in Watford could sound a note of caution for small businesses in High Wycombe.

Anna Rankin, marketing director for family-run department store Clement's, in Watford, says: "It was an absolute nightmare when the new shopping centre was built - it hit us worse than the recession.

She adds: "About 15 years ago, we were right in the centre of a busy High Street with lots of passing trade, but suddenly that has all shifted and people don't walk here any more.

"I know because I myself, when I'm shopping, I don't want to walk with my three children - we just want to get in and out, and you just have to accept second best for convenience.

Mrs Rankin adds: "It was a real tragedy when the big shopping centre opened, because the town centre just died and emptied out."

Wycombe District Council's proposed 15-acre site is bounded by Oxford Road, Abbey Way, Bridge Street, Denmark Street, Desborough Road, Lily's Walk, Temple Street, and the existing bus station.

Chris Hoar, 32, is a director of the Bucks Cycle Centre in Oxford Road. His business is located on the opposite side of the A40 from the development site in High Wycombe.

Surely a new shopping complex would mean more passing trade for a shop like his - one that lies on the fringe of the town's current shopping area?

Mr Hoar disagrees. He says: "The issue for us is accessibility. We benefit from having the Bridge Street car park opposite us. If that was swallowed up by a new shopping centre, customers would find it really hard to get to us.

"The car park is useful not just for customer Parking, but also so that potential purchasers can test-ride our bikes. The A40 is too busy and too dangerous, so the car park is the only open site we can use for this purpose."

Mr Hoar says shopping complexes like the Harlequin do not admit cycles or cycle shops, so customers would not be able to wheel a bike purchased from his store back to the complex's own car park.

"We'd be increasingly isolated and inaccessible," Mr Hoar concludes.

Chris Mason, salesman at Watford-based cycle shop Cyclopedia, 24, says: "There's nothing in the Harlequin centre that wasn't already available in Watford. As someone who has lived and worked my whole life in Watford, the Harlequin centre just brings in too many people to the town, clogs up the roads and makes life difficult for those of us who are trying to go about their daily business."

Russell Lacey, 22, is proprietor of Desborough Pets on Desborough Road, on the north side of the proposed development site. He is in favour of the proposal. He says: "I think it will do our trade good. It certainly can't do as much damage as the council's Positive Parking initiative."

Mr Lacey adds: "The only concern for me would be if the council decided to extend Compulsory Purchase Orders to shops in Desborough Road. I would get the going rate for my property, but no allowance for the value of the trade I have built up now and for the future."

Mr Lacey said he has considered relocating to a shopping centre like the Octagon in the past, but couldn't afford the rental fees.

Wycombe District Council declined to make a formal comment on this issue.

A council spokesman said this would not be appropriate in the light of the ongoing public inquiry into plans for the western sector development.

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