Plans to replace old 3M building rejected: Have your say

Published 19 Jul 2012 09:30 10 Comments

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A £50M bid to knock down Bracknell's former 3M building and replace it with an apartment block has been refused due to a technicality.

Comer Homes submitted a planning application to Bracknell Forest Council in April to demolish Winchester House in Bond Way, Bracknell town centre, and replace it with a block of 311 apartments with a café, gym and retail space.

The borough council has turned down the application after an Environmental Impact Assessment was not submitted within the required deadline.

Traders at Bracknell's indoor market - who would be moved outside as part of the redevelopment are objecting to the plans, as is Bracknell Town Council, which said the planned building would be "unneighbourly due to its height".

Comer Homes has not yet commented on the refusal.

* See the Bracknell News out today (Thursday) for the full story.

* What do you think should happen to the building and the site? Have your say below or email letters@bracknellnews.co.uk

This article appeared in Local Berkshire 19 Jul 12

Have your say. Post a comment on this article.

Tazinberkshire
2 posts
Jul 19, 12:04
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So the thousands of homes in Broad lane were ok to build along with the extra cars now all of a sudden there's an environmental impact for another 311 homes in the area?

Get rid of this monstrosity whilst someone is willing to foot the bill and start turning the area around again.

Recommend? Yes 28 No 2
Davesweeney
3 posts
Jul 19, 12:14
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Of course it would get Refused.. its in Bracknell....

If it was in wokingham or any of the other surrounding towns, this would have been demolished years ago !!

Bracknell & Reading should be "showcase" towns for Berkshire..

It seems that any kind of town refubishment in Bracknell is always met with RED tape and is generally refused.. for one excuse or another...

Again if this was Wokingham... No problem.. I'm sure...

Recommend? Yes 29 No 4
gilltibb
2 posts
Jul 19, 12:52
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It did look lovely on the torch run! looking out bleakly through broken windows to the thousands of people below and those all over the country watching on their computers!

What a great advert for Bracknell it is

Recommend? Yes 16 No 0
BracknellBC
7 posts
Jul 19, 13:32
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More comments about the bloody market traders! Sick of hearing their objections!

Markets belong outside! Its traditional!

This building is causing Bracknell to be a trashy town, nothing will ever happen until its gone.

Bracknell is the most depressing town to shop in. Its like, we have all the parts for the machine but no-one has a clue how to put it together! When someone makes a decision and not keep making excuses then things will happen. Let Comer Homes pay out for all this promised building work and make this run down part of town transform into something modern and fresh! Im surprised they let Waitrose be built before they knock it down! Imagine the dust that would cover that building! If its the kind of demolition I know of!

Recommend? Yes 28 No 3
Freewriter
9 posts
Jul 19, 16:48
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Bracknell is missing a golden opportunity to be a retail centre.

For a start despite what people say Bracknell is extremely easy to get around. Look at Wokingham, Ascot and Reading. It has ample central parking with a large amount of through traffic seconds from its retail centre. There are a few ropey shops and empty retail space that would no doubt soon fill up if the profile of the town centre was raised. My home town was well known for its indoor and outdoor market, people would travel miles to walk around it and browse. Tucking the market out of the way means it is largely ignored. I lived in Bracknell for two years before I even knew it was there. They could dot the market stalls around the town centre in the central walkway spaces which would give better foot fall and would tackle the deserted look the centre currently has. Bracknell also already has better quality stores than nearby towns. Wokingham town centre is woeful. Bentalls in Bracknell is a great old fashioned department store with high a vast range of high quality goods. With all this going for it how are the council managing to mess it up?

As always town councils are staffed with idle gravy train public sector workers that can't hack it in the real world. They can't innovate and there about as dynamic as a three toed sloth on tranquilisers. With a bit of vision and the right incentives Bracknell could regenerate during a recession.

Recommend? Yes 24 No 1
Christoph
2 posts
Jul 19, 20:33
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What a travesty! Technicalities and red tape, Bracknell Forest Council Executives should be ashamed of themselves. 15 years on and the town centre has still not been regenerated. All the Planning Department are interested in doing is building on countryside, green spaces and Blue Mountain golf course. Why? Because that's the easy option for the incompetent jobsworths that BFC have recruited to manage the Planning Department.

Recommend? Yes 20 No 2
Bracknellite
6 posts
Jul 19, 23:47
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The current market is a disgrace. The stalls never change and are depressing. Why not just knock the building down as they did with Imation House before Waitrose was even thought of? The market can then go outside and this would attract the travelling market stall holders like in other towns.

Recommend? Yes 18 No 2
bracknelljo
3 posts
Jul 20, 01:09
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Who cares what the market traders with think. It's a rubbish market presently.

Recommend? Yes 20 No 2
Crowman
22 posts
Jul 26, 19:12
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Bracknell centre is a DUMP...administered by an incompetent Council, who are only interested in building thousands of dwellings without providing the necessary infrastructure.

Maybe the 3M building should be preserved in its current state as a monument to BFC incompetentcy!

Recommend? Yes 9 No 0
hazelann70
58 posts
Jul 27, 17:24
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I would like to comment (as I usually do). Firstly, the person who says they don't care what the market traders will think I would like to say a thank you to. Who cares that over 30 people's livelihoods could be at stake (yes, there are at least 30 people who work in the market). It's only more people to join the dole queue so why indeed should we care. The other person who said they are sick of hearing from the traders might like to know that I am a trader and I think I speak for the majority of us in saying we DO NOT OBJECT to the whole idea of the building being knocked down and got rid of. In fact, we would welcome it. It is an eyesore which is no doubt an environmental health hazard with the probable thousands and thousands of birds that have been able to get into the condemned building, excrete everywhere and then die. Comer should be forced to sort that out if nothing else. I am lead to believe with what I have read about the company that they are broke anyway. In my opinion, they aren’t going to build even if they do get permission. All they want is for planning to be granted so they can then sell the land as a going concern. They thought they were going to make a quick profit on that place when they bought it but didn’t realise what a Joana it was.

What we are frustrated about is the lip service we receive from both Bracknell council and BRP. We are constantly being told that they want to keep a market in Bracknell and how they want it to be an indoor market. We gave Councillor Brunel-Walker a list of questions and a month ago we were told by him that they have the answers for us. We are still waiting. That's all we ever do is wait. That's all anyone who lives in Bracknell ever does regarding the town is wait. In my opinion, Bracknell BRP should be re-vamped with new members on the board and new blood brought in. How many more thousands of pounds are going to be wasted on plans and exhibitions to show said plans off only for them to yet again be scrapped?

I do understand why people are fed up about hearing about the market but if it were their friends and families having such a cloud over their future jobs then it would be different. We are all fed up. Not a trading day goes by when we aren’t asked about the future of the market. The comment made by someone else saying about having the market outside for a travelling market is all well and good but what about the traders who couldn’t possibly take all their stock home each day? The market has been where it is for years and is home to stalls which have grown into the market. I could go outside with a burger van (not that I have the kind of money that’s needed for such a van) but that would mean I couldn’t serve up the homemade meals, cakes and goodies that I do now. The idea of a travelling market is wonderful but if it were that great an idea, do you not think the people who “travel” around with their stalls would have used our market already? Half of Bracknell residents don’t even know the market exists so why should a travelling market know? We do need more stalls but for that to happen we need a good town to bring people in and a council who are willing to help us. Until the hell hole of what is meant to be a town is sorted out, the market will carry on dying along with the town. Even Wokingham has an indoor market now for god sake!!!

We are all sorry that some people feel the way they do and the only thing I can say to that is “everyone is entitled to their own opinions” However, what Bracknell needs is a dedicated team working FOR the people and elected by the people. Not people who have other vocations elsewhere and have been given the roles of different jobs to do within BRP. Is it any wonder this regeneration has been dragging on for so many years if this is the way things are run?

So, for all those who think Bracknell Market is a dive with no stalls, why not put your money where your mouth is and run a stall yourselves? It’s not expensive and stalls can be had on a daily basis. To say the stalls never change and are depressing is rather offensive to the traders who do make an effort on their stalls. If anyone can honestly say the plant stall is depressing then I really don’t know what is required. Most stall holders make an effort where possible and to hear that comment really was upsetting. If the person who made the comment would like to come down and do a better job then I’m sure they would be welcomed! We need more people to take up the offer and get our market filled again. Anyone can come along and give it a try. We need things like clothes, music, cheese, bread, shoes and anything else that’s going to get people in. A market is only as good as the people who use it and trade in it and if either of those elements are missing, it’s a struggle for everyone.

Recommend? Yes 2 No 0

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