wembley-plan-app (small) , item 9. PDF 8 MB - Meetings, agendas ...

84Wembley Area Action Plan - Proposed Submission Version8 Town centres, shopping, leisure and tourismStrategic Policy8.1 The Wembley area currently includes twotown centres; Wembley town centre to the southwest and Wembley Park to the north. Wembley andWembley Park are designated as a Major Centreand a District centre respectively within the LondonPlan and the council’s Core Strategy. Afundamental aspect of both National Policy, as setout in the National Planning Policy Framework, andin London Plan policy 4.7, is the sequentialapproach to development whereby developmentshould be focused on sites in town centres first and,only if no in-centre sites are available, on sites onthe edges of centres. Policy 2.15 of the LondonPlan also promotes the extension of existingcentres where appropriate, and providing that it isco-ordinated strategically, and policy 4.8 states thatborough LDFs should take a proactive approachto planning for retailing, including bringing forwardcapacity for additional comparison goods retailing.8.2 The London Plan identifies Wembley as aStrategic Cultural Area where London's majorclusters of visitor attractions are located. Policy2.16 promotes Wembley as a Strategic OuterLondon Development Centre with a strategicfunction related to leisure, tourism, arts, culture andsports which is considered to be an economicfunction of greater than sub-regional importance.8.3 The strategic policies outlined above arereflected in Brent's Core Strategy. This promotesWembley as the main focus of new retail and towncentre uses where the town centre will be expandedeastwards into the Stadium area in accordancewith the sequential approach (CP16). Policy CP1states that Wembley will deliver most of theborough's new development, including retail andoffice growth as well as being the primary locationfor new hotels and the focal point for tourism andlarge scale visitor attractions. Policy CP7 highlightsthe key role of Wembley in driving economicregeneration including development of the rangeof uses appropriate to an expanding town centreand Strategic Cultural Area. A further 30,000 sq mnet of new retail floorspace is proposed over andabove that granted planning consent up to July2010 2011.Policy ContextWembley Park8.4 Wembley Park is designated as a DistrictCentre, extending both north and south of WembleyPark underground station. Wembley Park containsalmost 16,400sqm of floorspace, of which 95%(15,600sqm) was in retail (A class) use in 2008.The presence of Asda, Lidl and other smallergrocery stores means that Wembley Park isdominated by convenience goods accounting for60% of the total floorspace in the centre(10,000sqm). The centre contains a high proportionof food and drink uses, mostly restaurants, cafesand takeaways (10% of total floorspace).8.5 There are no development opportunitiesidentified within the centre itself - currently approvedapplications lie outside the town centre boundaries.South of the centre, construction has started on anew Wembley designer outlet centre and cinemaand food and drink complex alongside the newWembley pedestrian boulevard. Also, in 2011planning consent was granted for a new retail streetwhich will link the Boulevard with Wembley Parkcentre. This will be a further extension of Wembleytown centre as the new boulevard will extend fromclose to Wembley Stadium station eastwards toEngineers Way.Wembley Town Centre8.6 Wembley town centre has approximately67,850 sq m of retail floorspace. The nearestMetropolitan town centres of Ealing and Harrow aswell as Brent Cross regional shopping centre aresubstantially bigger. Wembley, however, hasconsiderable scope for expansion as there is alarge amount of potential development land,particularly to the east of the centre. In 2009, theGLA Town Centre Health Check survey, estimatedthat unimplemented planning permissionsaccounted for 2.88 hectares – the ninth largestamount of land in London.Town Centre Hierarchy8.7 In 2003-04, data from an index of the rankof shopping centres in the UK showed thatWembley was a declining centre and has beenfalling down the UK shopping centre index ranking.In 2003-04 Wembley was ranked in 491st place inthe UK shopping index, which represents a fall ofmore than 200 places from its position in 1995-96.However, Wembley’s vacancy rate has been falling;