Eden - it’s genuinely fabulous

9:55am Thursday 13th March 2008

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BEWILDERED readers must have thought I'd turned into Bob the Builder or a member of the Village People pop group when they saw me walking through town on Monday.

For there I was in a hard hat, boots and a luminous yellow jacket striding around High Wycombe for all the world to see.

But, have no fear, I haven't given up my day job. I was there on a last-minute tour of the fabulous new Eden centre which opens today.

And it is genuinely fabulous. I'm not just saying that to toady to the development firm which gave me the sneak preview.

For the last couple of years, the construction of Eden has remained a bit of a mystery. It was fenced off from the public as High Wycombe took on the look of a gloomy building site.

All we've been able to see was scaffolding, builders' trucks and cones in front of a giant piece of land hidden behind gates and boards. Even though I'd been given sight of the plans of the new shopping and leisure centre, I just couldn't ever really get it straight in my head how it would fit together.

On Monday, I finally found out as we were allowed through. I'd been on to the site a couple of times previously, but there hadn't been much to see then - just some empty shells of buildings and a lot of mud.

So it was awe-inspiring this week to see how it had all finally come together.

Walking on to the enclosed site that had been fenced off for so long was like stepping into another dimension. It felt as if we had walked through a rift in the space/time continuum. My two colleagues and I could not believe we were still in High Wycombe as we wandered through the giant airy mall filled with colossal modern shops and restaurants.

None of us could get our bearings, even though all three of us had lived in Wycombe for many years.

It was like we had been transported into another city. I have no idea whether you, the public, will feel the same when you experience Eden.

Perhaps it will be different when it's all opened up and huge masses of people are strolling through it, but I reckon there's going to be a lot of stunned High Wycombe residents when they see how their town has been transformed.

I cannot, of course, tell you yet what the shops and restaurants are actually like and whether or not they will offer you what you want at the prices you can afford. There is also the not-so-little matter of the empty outlets that are going to appear all across town as a result of shops moving into the centre of Eden.

The Chilterns Shopping Centre is bound to suffer initially before Primark moves in later this year and before replacements are found for stores such as Next which have moved into Eden.

And then there are the inevitable questions of parking and traffic. The jury is still out on these issues.

But what really impressed me on Monday was the way the new Eden development linked up with the revamped Octagon centre. I'd always struggled to see how the two centres would fit together, but thanks to the rebuilding of the old bus station, it's pretty seamless.

The opening of Eden marks the end of a huge chapter in High Wycombe's history. We have reported on the redevelopment of the "western sector" for many years and it has been far from plain sailing. There have been many trials and tribulations along the way and several times, the project looked like it was going to fall apart.

However, Wycombe District Council stuck in there and, against considerable odds, managed to get the external funding, the permission and worked out a way to build around the Tesco store in Newlands.

I have raged many times over the years about the inefficiencies and impotence of various local authorities. In one attack, when they failed to refer radical NHS changes to the Government, I asked what are our councillors actually good for.

Today, the public will finally find out.

And let's give credit where credit's due, this is a triumph not only for the town but for a council which refused to give up on a dream.