MSDC Leader Gives No Guarantees On Martlets Shopping Centre Redevelopment

New Mid Sussex District Council leader Robert Eggleston was unable to give any guarantees on NewRiver Retail completing the redevelopment of the Martlets Shopping Centre when answering a public question during the full meeting of council on Wednesday 26th July.



A Mr Kirkwood submitted the following question:

What, in detail, with timelines, is the council's plan to get NewRiver Retail to regenerate Burgess Hill Town Centre? My understanding is that NRR have the opportunity to regnerate Burgess Hill since 2015 and to date nothing has been done.

It is about time that this was sorted and it is upon you and your council to sort it. Residents of Burgess Hill are frustrated by the way you have dragged your feet over this matter.




Mr Eggleston's response included:

This lack of support from the government was very regrettable, it has left the Council and NewRiver with the difficult task of bringing a redevelopment forward without that essential injection of liquidity. 

Now, it’s completely understandable that local people are extremely disappointed and frustrated by the current state of the town centre and the lack of progress on the redevelopment - I share these frustrations and that disappointment.

Last year we appointed a firm of highly professional advisors - Lambert Smith Hampton - to work with the council and NewRiver to see how the redevelopment can be unlocked.  The council has regular meetings with LHS to assess progress.



Whilst some elements of the redevelopment scheme exist, these are complex and difficult negotiations involving a wide range of commercial players and a successful conclusion of these negotiations still cannot be guaranteed.  Given commercial confidentiality, it would not be appropriate to elaborate on these negotiations at this time.

I wish I could give you a precise timeline on the redevelopment of the Martlets Shopping Centre, but I cannot at this stage. However, what I can say is that the current planning permission lapses in July 2024 and my personal expectation is that NewRiver will have commenced practical work on the redevelopment of the Martlets shopping centre so that it doesn’t lose this permission -  whether that will happen, I cannot currently predict with any certainty, but it is a horizon point that is being made very clear to NewRiver and on which we are in turn focused.

The council will obviously need to consider a range of options to bring the commercial redevelopment forward if it becomes clear that the horizon point I just mentioned cannot be met. 




The wait for any progress continues.....