Agenda item

Cabinet approved the Hemel Hempstead Town Centre Vision.

Decision

That Cabinet approves the Hemel Hempstead Town Centre Vision.

Corporate Priorities

A clean, safe and enjoyable environment

Building strong and vibrant communities

Ensuring economic growth and prosperity

Ensuring efficient, effective and modern service delivery

Statutory Officer Comments:

Monitoring Officer:

There are no direct considerations arising from the report but the delivery of the Vision will have various legal implications which will need to be considered as each separate project progresses.

Deputy S151 Officer:

There are no direct financial implications arising from the report.  Any activity associated with the delivery of the Hemel Hempstead Town Centre Vision will be supported by the Place, Communities and Enterprise service.  Financial resourcing of this activity will be addressed as part of future reports, as required

Advice

Cllr Wilkie introduced the report and handed over to officers.

JDoe advised the report recently went through SPAE Overview & Scrutiny and invited his colleagues DSouthern and SWhelan to give a short presentation on the Town Centre Vision as part of the Hemel Place Strategy. 

Cllr Banks commented that she had recently visited Liverpool; they have a high street shopping centre set up close to the docks.  She noted that they have taken out, what she assumes was dock side warehouses, and have put in blocks of green space linking the docks to the town, observing that it was a very interesting connection between dock and town centre and expressed her opinion that a similar sort of link would be great if it could be incorporated locally. 

Cllr Symington thanked officers for the work and noted it is aspirational.  She asked; is this in any way limiting or is this a vision that we can do what we want with? 

JDoe advised it is not limiting, it is ambitious and visionary but grounded in the background evidence.  There will be more details to come in terms of delivery plans.  Will be a framework for dealing with sites as they come forward.

Recommendation agreed