The town centre falls within the boroughs of both Barnet and Harrow and the councils jointly prepared this Supplementary Planning Document (SPD) to guide how Edgware Town Centre can successfully undergo renewal and better serve as a destination for local residents and businesses.

The SPD supports comprehensive redevelopment of key sites to reflect Edgware’s status as a major town centre, reinforce the role of the high street, provide new public spaces and make the street environment more attractive. The town centre will also provide opportunities for new high quality homes, including affordable housing.

The scale of regeneration in Edgware means that change will happen over several years, and at different rates in different places during the SPD period.

• The SPD received 142 online questionnaire responses, in addition to 77 email responses, and approximately 160 people attended two online public consultation events. 87% of the online respondents agreed with the SPDs Vision and Objectives, while a broad level of support for town centre renewal was also expressed in consultation meetings and the email responses.

• However concerns were raised over increasing pressure on local community services, levels of congestion, impact on public car parking, and building design, notably height.

Major Town Centre status

• Edgware is Barnet’s only major town centre

• Edgware will be developed as a destination with a diverse retail, commercial, leisure and cultural offering that attracts people from a wide catchment area to support our existing local businesses and local economy.

• The retail offer will be focused on Station Road.

• Provide new attractions that make Edgware a destination location, options include a new cinema, swimming pool and a diverse range of eating-out options that support a safe evening economy.

Retail

• Ground floor frontages must be active, contributing to a lively, attractive and safe street environment. 

• Address those retail units around the edge of the town centre which are in poor condition through encouraging improved frontages.

• Shop signage is often too large and ill-matched with adjacent shops, visually dominating the frontages, giving an overall disjointed appearance and covering architectural features that would otherwise add character.

Transport

• Better options to walk, cycle or take the bus to the Town Centre for those living locally and better public transport options for those coming from further afield. 

• Improvements to transport options aim to deliver a far better local environment and seek to ameliorate traffic congestion.

• Improved relationship between the tube and bus stations.

• Road crossings for pedestrians should be reviewed and improved, including along Station Road, at the eastern end on Hale Lane and Edgwarebury Lane, and the High Street/ A5 crossing.

• Securing investment in new cycle routes across and between town centres in both boroughs is a Covid-19 recovery priority. 

• Forecasts indicate a substantial increase in bus use in the area, with a need for improved bus services within Edgware.

• Ensuring that air and noise pollution effects on residents, workers and visitors to the town centre are minimised.

• Church Way and Bakery Path should be improved to make the route feel open and safe to use.

• The provision of car parking for town centre users, and potentially commuters, must be based on evidence of need. Car parking provision must be efficient, utilising approaches such as multi-storey, basement or podium parking. 

• Where car parking is provided this should provide Electric Vehicle Charging Points .

  • Future Edgware: Large support for improved pedestrian and cycle access, safer crossings and reduced congestion. Residents feel strongly car parking is a priority, especially the 1.5 hours free at the Broadwalk Centre. Some residents question the idea of cycle routes and also the impact new homes will have on congestion.

Regeneration & homes

• Comprehensive regeneration of key sites.

• Deliver new homes on well-connected, brownfield land.

• Barnet and Harrow councils need to deliver new homes at the borough and local level to meet local need but also to meet London Plan requirements. Barnet is seeking to deliver several new residential development opportunities, which are identified at the Broadwalk Centre, TfL land, and Forumside areas.

• More housing is needed to provide for those who cannot afford, or struggle to afford, a place to live. 

• Edgware Town Centre within Barnet is identified by Barnet’s Local Plan as a tall buildings location, meaning there is potential for buildings higher than eight storeys, and for very tall buildings of over 14 storeys, subject to exceptional design quality and demonstrating that the scheme meets criteria such as integrating with the existing urban fabric, and ensuring no adverse microclimate impact relating to wind or daylight.

• Buildings must ensure attractive and active frontages at street level so that pedestrians feel engaged with the built environment at a human scale.

  • Future Edgware: There is strong opposition to any more tall buildings.

The Broadwalk Centre, tube and bus station

• This site lies at the heart of Edgware Town Centre and comprises a major strategic development opportunity for Edgware .

• Future development opportunities should prioritise making the Station building and forecourt a welcoming, attractive and easy to navigate focus of public transport. 

• Redevelopment of the Broadwalk Shopping Centre must provide excellent pedestrian access across the site.

• The site has potential for the creation of a modern urban environment with opportunities for tall buildings and higher densities in some parts.

• Along the part of the site adjoining Station Road building heights should be varied to avoid a ‘canyoning effect’ and excessive shadowing across the main shopping thoroughfare.

• As the largest site within Edgware this location provides the best opportunity for delivering new and enhanced public open spaces. The station forecourt can provide the first in a hierarchy of linked public open spaces that are connected to create a walkable urban environment.

• The bus station for example is not prominent and the entrance is indistinct.

The Forumside

• This location includes land to the rear of the important Railway Hotel Grade II listed building and comprises businesses, car parking, residential and brownfield land under several different ownerships. The area represents a combination of derelict and underused buildings and is blighted by dumping and fly-tipping.

• An opportunity to create a new high-quality ‘heritage quarter’ that enables restoration of the Railway Hotel as a celebrated landmark asset.

• The context of the listed Railway Hotel is a key consideration in any redevelopment scenario with the heritage building lying 22 metres from the edge of the Forumside site. The scale of proposals should be modest to the rear of the heritage asset with an approach of low to medium rise-high-density development. A fine-textured urban grain should be used to complement the Railway Hotel and develop a high-quality ‘heritage quarter’.

• The westerly parts of the site could potentially see medium rise development with a height and design that complements and does not adversely affect the surrounding inter-war frontage.

• The south western areas have more potential for height towards the existing tall building fronting onto the A5/ High Street. The context of the primary school must be given due consideration in terms of visual impact and avoidance of overlooking. 

• A small park for leisure and recreation should be provided, including a children’s playground and potentially a court for football and basketball. 

  • Future Edgware: Large public support for the restoration of the Railway Hotel.

Existing building heights (note the plan is derived from an analysis of heights in metres translated to storeys and therefore the number of storeys is indicative)

Aerial view of the Forumside area

Lidl & The Mason Arms

• The sites could be intensified through new development with residential uses above while continuing to protect the heritage buildings and providing the existing town centre uses on the ground floor, including the Lidl supermarket. 

• The listed buildings and Mason’s Arms should be retained and restored/ brought back into use to preserve the local historic character of the location.

• The remainder of the site could potentially accommodate medium size buildings and be optimised through a mass that complements the listed buildings and the low-rise residential area to the west. 

  • Future Edgware: Some residential support for restoring The Mason Arms.

Aerial view the Mason Arms

Aerial view of commercial buildings fronting the A5/ High Street

Heritage

• Edgware’s valued historical buildings and heritage must be protected and restored.

• Heritage assets have an important part to play in the growth and renewal of Edgware, providing historical context and supporting local [identity].

• Proposals must also carefully consider the setting and context of heritage assets in the surrounding area, such as the Railway Hotel. 

• The Railway Hotel particularly is a valued landmark heritage building that must be brought back into use as part of the renewal and redevelopment of the wider area. 

• Make the most of transport heritage and architecture to help promote local identity and sense of place, particularly the London Underground station and design heritage 

  • Future Edgware: There is strong public support for restoring and celebrating the towns heritage.

Community

• Ensure new development makes resources available for facilities including schools, GP surgeries, community groups and sports.

• Ensure that people feel safe by designing out crime and anti-social behaviour.

• There is a need for more public open spaces within Edgware Town Centre and new housing will reinforce this as residents require outdoor spaces for leisure and recreation.

• Consider the need and provision for indoor and outdoor sports facilities. 

• Protecting existing habitats and create new habitats that support biodiversity, taking a net gain approach through measures such as river restoration and planting.

• There is an overall lack of seating; more benches could be introduced as part of a Street Plan, providing opportunities to rest and socialise. Any new street furniture must be of a high quality and appropriate design that improves the appearance and coherence of the town centre; for example, designs could mirror the inter-war heritage of the buildings frontages and provide a distinctive and unique feel to the area.

• Growth in Edgware must prioritise employment and skills opportunities for local people, for example through securing construction apprenticeships arising with the development opportunities. 

Economy

In early 2021 the owner of Premier House submitted plans to add three extra rooftop floors to make it a 17 storey building, to pay to replace flammable ACM cladding. Betterpride, which bought the Premier House block in Edgware just months before the Grenfell fire, said recladding the residential block would cost around £4.8m.

Much of this cost will be covered by central Government funding, but the owner faces a £1m shortfall because three professional landlords in the block, who between them own 30 flats, qualify for no more than €200,000 of state aid per company.

Until those leaseholders accept liability to make up the funding shortfall or a Tribunal hands down a verdict in around 12-18 months time, the remedial work is set to remain on hold.

Recently Betterpride was one of 14 firms named and shamed by the government for failing to progress dangerous cladding removal work. Now Betterpride has submitted plans for an extra 21 flats for sale over the three extra rooftop floors to help forward finance the recladding works.

The extension is expected to cost around £6.4m, generating a £1.3m profit based on estimated sale prices in the area. GML Architects has also come up with a new design to the exterior of the building to remove the stigma associated with the current cladding.

A shared roof garden will also provide safe private amenity space for all residents.

Betterpride has also committed use any surplus profit to refund leaseholders for additional service charges since the building was revealed to be fitted with flammable cladding. Source & photos 1 & 2 credit: Construction Enqurier. Photos 3 & 4 credit: Centro.

As of late 2021 "the next step is for the freeholder to apply to the FTT to determine that the costs are reasonable and payable by the 3 leaseholders.  This has been submitted to the FTT and a decision is awaited." Updates can be found via Property Planner.

2023 update: In May's town centre Q&A Cllr Nick Mearing-Smith was under the impression the extra 3 storeys had been approved.

After the SPD was published in June 2021, Knight Frank released this booklet with the Railway Hotel used as a focus point for mass Forumside development.

• • Future Edgware: This monster development goes against everything the public gave feedback about - most notably the 30 storey tower block ignores the strong objections to high rise buildings which dominate town centres and change the local atmosphere dramatically. It also contradicts the SPDs plans for a Heritage Quarter and the requirement to be designed around the context of The Railway Hotel: "the scale of proposals should be modest to the rear of the heritage asset with an approach of low to medium rise-high-density development".