At the last local assembly meeting, a number of people asked what the situation is regarding business rates on the empty units at Leegate.  I think there was a feeling that if these could be raised, it might encourage the owners to let the empty units.

I’ve taken this up with the Council’s business rates manager, and received the following response:

You will be aware that business rates is calculated on the basis of a property’s rateable value, as provided by the Valuation Office, an agency of HM Revenues & Customs, and then multiplied by the rate poundage set by the Government each year. Therefore, each unit or property would be charged individually. However, as you have alluded to in your e-mail, on 1 April 2008 the regulations changed with regard to the business rates levied on empty properties. From this date, all unoccupied shops had their rates increased from 50% of the full charge, to 100%. Effectively, this means that there is no distinction in charge between an occupied and unoccupied property.

The Council has no powers at its disposal to increase the rates payable on empty shop units, although I believe by increasing the empty rates charge on empty properties it was the Governments belief that this measure would encourage landlords to re-let their properties more quickly.

I trust this explains the position.

So – there’s already a financial incentive to let the units, but this doesn’t seem to be enough.    In my dealings with the owners, I’ve always been told they’d like to let the units – but only on the basis that they can get the unit back fairly quickly if they decide they want to redevelop the centre.  Unfortunately, that isn’t very attractive to someone who may be making a large investment to fit out a shop unit.

I’ve delayed writing up the outcome of this hearing, which happened last Thursday, as I wanted to get the confirmation through in the post.   Despite the objections of myself, local residents and the Police, the licensing committee approved a late licence for Nazar in the Leegate Centre (occupying the old Cinnamon unit).

The licence granted allows:

• Sale of alcohol Sunday – Wednesday 12pm to 2am and Thursday-Saturday 12pm until 3am
• Entertainment – Thursday to Saturday 12pm until 3am
• and late night refreshment every night until 5am

I really welcome an empty unit in the Leegate Centre coming back into use, but I’m concerned about the late licence.   My worry (shared by the Police officer who attended the licensing hearing) is that as this is a much later licence than anywhere else locally has, we’ll end up with people who leave licenced premises elsewhere in Lee Green, Blackheath or Lewisham beating a path to the Leegate Centre for more drinks.   The applicants seem like really responsible people and promised to turn away drunks etc – but my worry is about what happens then?   Public transport to and from Lee Green at that time of night isn’t great.   The residents above the Leegate Centre were also very concerned about the late night entertainment, which they fear will distrub their sleep.

Anyway, the licence has been granted now, so we’ve got to make the best of it.    As I say, the operators seem like responsible people, so hopefully we can work through any problems.

Today’s been a long day.  Work took me to Manchester and back, then went straight to the Town Hall for a licensing meeting – they were discussing the Leegate Centre application I mentioned a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately due to a procedural issue (we weren’t given details, but I have my suspicions…) the committee were unable to make a decision tonight, so the application’s been adjourned until October 23rd.

I’ve pasted the update on Leegate that was presented to the Assembly last night below.  The good news is that the centre’s owners have asked for it to be included in the Local Development Framework – the Council’s main planning document.  That means there’s a potential window of opportunity for them to redevelop the centre.   The assembly decided that they wanted to keep the Leegate Centre as a priority issue, and discussed things we could do in the short term to improve the appearance of the centre.  We’ll keep working with the Lee Manor Society to keep the pressure on the owners – St Modwen - to bring forward their plans.

“Lee Green is one of the nine town centres which the Council sees as vital to the prosperity of the borough. The Council wishes to regenerate these town centres by strengthening their retail function, encouraging a diversification of appropriate uses and facilitating visual and environmental improvements. Town centres are vital to a sustainable economy because they are accessible by public transport and a number of linked activities can be conducted on one visit.

Officers will now include the potential allocation of the centre for redevelopment in the next draft of the Local Development Framework. It should be appreciated that the process of allocating the site will not, in itself, ensure that redevelopment takes place. However, representatives of the Council and local community will hold further meetings with St Modwen to encourage them to make early progress in bringing forward proposals.

Together with the Sainsburys foodstore on the west side of Burnt Ash Road, the Leegate Shopping Centre forms the core of the Lee Green town centre. The centre is clearly showing its age and exhibits a number of problems, such as the severance of the parking area and significant trading difficulties.

As landowner of the shopping centre, St Modwen has the key role in improving its long term viability. Representatives of the Council and local community have met them to discuss concerns over the decline of the centre and to encourage them to bring forward proposals for the redevelopment of the centre. It is envisaged that this might take the form of an overall masterplan which could be implemented in phases. However, the preparation of such a masterplan and the subsequent phased redevelopment of the centre would be likely to take a number of years to progress.

St Modwen wrote to the Council in August to clarify their position. They confirmed that they had been looking at the future of the centre for some time and requested that it be identified as a development site in the next round of consultation on the emerging borough plan, the Local Development Framework. They added that they felt the centre offers the opportunity to provide a retail led, mixed use redevelopment including other uses appropriate to such a centre such as residential, office and hotel use together with associated public realm improvements and provision for parking and servicing.”

What do you think?   Are there ways we could improve the centre while we wait for St Modwen to come up with their longer-term plans?   Leave a comment below, or feel free to drop me a line privately if you’d prefer.

I chaired Lee Green’s second local assembly meeting last night at Lochaber Hall.   There was another great turn-out – I reckon over 100 people attended once again.

The issues on the agenda (drawn up by the coordinating group) were:

• The Leegate Centre
• Traffic issues – 20MPH zone, humps and parking
• The locality fund
• Northbrook school

I’ve already posted today to say that Northbrook should be going to planning on October 2nd.   Unfortunately, the Town Hall have ruled that senior Council officers won’t attend the assemblies, so last night we had to make do with written reports rather than speaking to the experts face-to-face.   That does, though, mean I can post the reports on Leegate and traffic here so that people who weren’t at the assembly can still read them and see what they think.  So I’ll do just that!

Once again, thanks to the Assembly team – particularly Ade and Paul, for making it happen.

I’ve been contacted by residents living in the flats above the Leegate Centre who are concerned about a licensing application in the centre.   Paul had the news on Leepedia last week:

It looks like the empty Cinnamon unit at Leegate will once again be a restaurant/bar as there is a licence application for extended hours for the Nazar which will occupy the old Cinnamon unit:Nazar, Unit 12 Leegate has applied for a new/variation licence under the Licensing Act 2003 for live music 18:00 -04:00 Monday – Friday & Saturday – Sunday 12:00 – 04:00 Recorded music dancing & sale of alcohol 12:00 – 04:00 Monday – Sunday. Late night refreshment until 05:00 Monday – Sunday.

 

(Current licence of the Cinnamon: Sale of alcohol on the premises Monday – Saturday 10:00 – 00:00 & Sunday 12:00 -23:30.)

The four criteria under which you can support or object to this application are:
Prevention of Crime and Disorder
Protection of Children from Harm
Public Safety
Prevention of Public Nuisance

You can email the Licensing Team or write to:

The Licensing Team, 2nd Floor Laurence House
1 Catford Road, London SE6 4RU

Please could you ensure that any representations either for or against this application reach the Licensing Team by 26th August 2008.

The main issue for residents is the fact that music will be played until 4am and it seems the unit will be open until 5am.   They’re collecting a petition.  If anyone else has comments, please do get them to the licensing dept by the 26th – feel free to copy me in.