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

Wembley Area Action Plan - Proposed Submission Version85Town centres, shopping, leisure and tourism 818.4% in 2005 to 4.7% in 2007. Despite therecession, the vacancy rate has marginallydecreased further to 4.3% in 2009. The council’sadopted Core Strategy seeks to continue to reversethis decline, improve its position in the shoppinghierarchy and increase the amount of floorspacein the centre in line with capacity and growthforecasts.Convenience and comparison floorspace8.8 In 2009, 17,700 sq m of Wembley towncentre's floorspace was comparison goods,accounting for 26% of total floorspace.Convenience floorspace accounted for only 6,670sq m (9.8%) whilst 17,430 sq m (25%) was servicefloorspace.8.9 Strategic Industrial Area8.10 The SIL contains established out-of-centreretail uses which provide employment andeconomic benefits to the local area. Proposals toimprove these existing retail facilities will besupported providing they remain local in nature.Potential for retail growth in Wembley8.11 Brent Retail Needs and Capacity Study 2008reviewed the level of retail growth that could beaccommodated across Brent's town centres. Forthe comparison goods allocation, it wasrecommended that 27,000 sq m would be requiredup to 2026, to be located primarily in Brent’s twomajor town centres. However, given the lack ofavailable sites in Kilburn, the approach in the CoreStrategy is to identify Wembley as the main locationfor this growth.8.12 For the convenience goods allocation, thetotal requirement of 12,500 sq m up to 2026 wasconsidered to be sufficient for at least two newmedium sized food stores within the borough as awhole.Picture 8.1 Central SquareCivic, leisure, hotel and conferencing uses8.13 Brent council’s new Civic Centre is to belocated within the heart of the new Wembley, closeto the stadium. The Civic Centre will provide civicand community uses, as well as some conferencingfacilities. Other new developments will alsocontribute to this offer including two schemes whichare currently being constructed including the newHilton Hotel and Shubette House. A new swimmingpool has also been approved as part of anapplication for a mixed use scheme at DexionHouse. Wembley Stadium provides conferencingaccommodation on non-event days.8.14 Although conferencing facilities have beena key part of the council’s vision for Wembley,conferencing facilities have been scaled back inrecent years following the loss of the WembleyConference Centre and associated exhibitionspace, and the council’s vision for Wembley is tore-provide these uses in the form of a ConventionCentre. While many of the land owners withinWembley do not consider these uses to be overlyprofitable, there is some appetite to provide theseon a smaller scale, creating an agglomeration ofthese uses which could collectively meet thecouncil’s vision for the area.Wembley as a cultural destination8.15 Wembley has a number of cultural assets,including the National Stadium, Fountain TVStudios and Wembley Arena, with the area hostingsome events for the 2012 Olympics. The Wembley