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the Heart in Hertfordshire
Broxbourne - Keep the Heart In Hertfordshire
With upcoming developments such as Brookfield Riverside, town centre improvements in Waltham Cross and the highly-anticipated Sunset Waltham Cross Studios for film, television and animation, Broxbourne is certainly a place to invest in right now.
While Broxbourne boasts beautiful open spaces and thriving town centres, economic resilience and growth in a post-pandemic world is crucial to the Borough, allowing residents and businesses to flourish and ‘Keep the Heart in Hertfordshire’.
Land to the west of Waltham Cross has been purchased by Blackstone real estate and Hudson Pacific Properties for a new centre for film, television and digital production. This will be the partners’ first expansion of their Sunset Studios platform outside of the United States.
The 91 acre site, close to M25 junction 25, was identified in the Borough’s approved Local Plan as a strategic employment site. This development will be a significant investment for the area, creating over 4,500 permanent jobs and is expected to contribute more than £300million to the local economy, annually. A successful open day for the new studios was held on Saturday 23 October, welcoming residents to view future plans for the site. With £5million of financial support from the Hertfordshire Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Broxbourne Council is developing a business start-up centre on the Theobalds Business Park. The whole site will provide high quality premises suitable for a range of users, including offices, workshops and engineering facilities. The location is ideal for embryonic start-up companies, expanding the opportunities for skills development and the creation of high value jobs in Broxbourne, tackling the shortage of local employment. The new business start-up centre provides a greater opportunity to capitalise on its location, close to the upcoming film, television and digital production studios in Waltham Cross. The new business park and training facilities within the business centre will help support local residents with the necessary skills to enable them to engage in these jobs when they become available. The entire site is a key element of the Council’s strategy for employment growth as set out in the adopted Local Plan 2018 – 2033, sitting in an important employment section of the A10, between its junction with the M25 and College Road. The centre is due for completion in early 2023. Broxbourne Council has a proven track record for this type of centre, having already developed the highly successful Ambition Broxbourne Business Centre (ABBC) incubation model in Hoddesdon. Following the Old Pond Strategy adoption, Broxbourne Council has also recently held a consultation for residents and businesses on the redesign of Grundy Park, with the proposed scheme planning to transform Grundy Park into a more diverse, multifunctional and accommodating green space.
The Old Pond Strategy, which consists of several major improvement projects, envisages the creation of a major public space around the Old Pond fountain, reached by an attractive network of pedestrian and cycle connections, whilst at the same time ensuring that the transport network continues to function for vehicular traffic. In addition to these developments, a consultation recently took place for significant plans to improve Waltham Cross town centre. Residents, visitors and businesses were invited to provide insight and voice their opinions on the upcoming improvements. The plans will modernise the look and feel of the town centre, provide better access for people walking and cycling, and make the High Street’s use much more flexible. This will include improving the look and feel of the area through high quality landscaping and street furniture, reopening the northern end of the High Street to light vehicles, creating short stay parking bays, and improving pedestrian and cycle access into the town from nearby residential areas. Successful face-to-face engagements were held in the town centre, where officers met with residents to answer queries and discuss future plans. The Council has submitted a bid to the Government’s Levelling Up Fund for this project and is awaiting the result.
The improvements will make access to the High Street easier for everyone, improve the health and wellbeing of residents and encourage economic recovery from the pandemic. This will improve local air quality and encourage physical activity, making the region a better place to live, work and visit.
restaurants and a cinema, 160,000 sq. ft. of offices, approximately 250 homes and 100 assisted living units, a 2,500-space car park and major improvements to public space. The development will also create 2,000 permanent jobs. The councils’ development partners are Sovereign Centros and Peveril Securities. Both sites, which spread across 330 acres in total, make up the ‘Brookfield’ development, which will benefit from an improved road infrastructure and will create a new town centre and adjoining community for the whole Borough. Planning applications for the sites are expected to be submitted early in 2022, with a public exhibition taking place beforehand.
Councillor Steve Wortley, Cabinet Member for Economic Growth
Across the Borough, an exciting key milestone has been reached for two major developments in Cheshunt, with the completion of a collaboration agreement between Hertfordshire County Council and Broxbourne Borough Council. This agreement establishes the formal partnership between the two councils to drive forward the delivery of the £400million mixed-use scheme at Brookfield Riverside and the adjacent Brookfield Garden Village, where 1,250 new homes will be built. Located at the Turnford interchange on the A10, three miles north of junction 25 of the M25, the 50-acre Brookfield Riverside site is envisaged to include up to 315,000 square feet of retail space, 250,000 sq ft for leisure,
