EAGLE CENTRE

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Derby City Council is to create two bus lanes, in Traffic Street and Siddals Road. Buses, taxis and cyclists will use the ones in Traffic Street, while those in Siddals Road will be for buses and cycles only. Cars will be banned from Siddals Road west of its junction with Copeland Street. It is hoped the changes will encourage people to leave their cars at home and use buses to get to Westfield shopping centre and the Riverlights complex.

The lanes will join the Cockpit junction when the new Westfield development opens. In Traffic Street, one lane in each direction will be given over to buses and the work is being jointly paid for by the city council, developer Westfield and Riverlights. Westfield and Riverlights say the new lanes will encourage more people to use public transport. Melvyn Hopwood, spokesman for Trent Barton, said, "Bus lanes mean more people are likely to choose to travel by bus, resulting in fewer cars on the road and less congestion in the city centre." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/07)

An inquiry into the planned £200m Eagle Centre refurbishment declared it "must go ahead" as Derby city centre was losing out to Nottingham, Leicester, Sheffield and even Derby's own Wyvern Centre because it was failing to meet the needs of shoppers. David Elvin QC, representing the developer, said the project must go ahead for the city to keep up with its retail rivals. He said, "The poor quality of retail units in Derby is a waste of valuable city centre land and none of the buildings help Derby fulfil its role as a regional retail destination. Derby neither has the actual status nor the economic weight it ought to have, and it fails to meet the requirements of its own population."

Bus lanes in Traffic Street and London Road, pedestrian and cycling crossings in Traffic Street, Bradshaw Way, London Road and Osmaston Road, and a refurbished subway in Traffic Street are all included in the proposals, which would increase the shopping complex by 68,000 square metres and provide more than 2,000 extra car parking spaces. Derby City Council and Eagle Centre owners Westfield Shoppingtowns Limited believe the plan would encourage more people to use public transport, walk, cycle or use park and ride schemes. Not exactly ideal when you're loaded down with shopping.

The proposed redevelopment could be axed if a compulsory purchase order issued to a Derby menswear shop does not go ahead. Vinecomb Investments Limited, owner of Mr Big in Victoria Chambers, London Road, has objected to the order as it said it does not want to move while the redevelopment work is being carried out. Derby City Council issued the CPO, which forces landowners included in the order to sell to the council, so that the Eagle Centre scheme can get under way. The objection was heard on the fourth day of the inquiry, which is being held after there were 30 objections to the order.

Councillor Chris Wynn, Labour member for Alvaston, said, "I really do applaud this scheme. It has the potential to transform Derby and its competitive edge against Nottingham." Councillor Sara Bolton, Labour member for Chaddesden, added, "This is an excellent scheme. People are no longer going to be rushing off to Nottingham or Meadowhall, they will stay in Derby to do their shopping." Will they really?

Despite having had two years to find a new register office, Derby City Council is now in a race against time before the existing building is bulldozed. It was agreed that Westfield Shoppingtowns, joint owner of the Eagle Centre with Hermes Property Asset Management, would have to pay for a replacement building. But a council cabinet meeting revealed that a definite site had not yet been agreed with Westfield and it was a matter of only months before the Traffic Street site must be vacated. Michael Foote, the council's director of corporate services, told the meeting that different relocation options were still being considered. He added that Westfield would probably need to take over the existing register office in the summer.

Council leader Maurice Burgess said after the meeting that the council had originally hoped to reveal the preferred new register office site. He said, "We have two alternative sites identified which we're working on with Westfield. I can't say which they are, because they may involve staff movements and we want to tell them before it goes public." Mr Burgess said around 12 suggested sites had been ruled out. He admitted the sticking point in negotiations with Westfield was over cost, which Westfield would have to bear. However, Mr Burgess did confirm that his preference for the site of the new register office, the Grade I-listed St Helen's House, in King Street, was too costly.

Mr Burgess admitted, "We could have used St Helen's House, but Westfield is not going to pay £5m to do it up. It would have been my personal first choice. It would have been lovely, but it just didn't stack up in the time available." He added the same was true of putting the new register office on the proposed controversial Riverlights development, on the site of Derby's bus station, because "that is years down the line".

H&M and Monsoon fashion stores will open their first shops in the city when the redevelopment of the Eagle Centre is completed. New shops include mobile phone store 3G, jeweller Beaverbrooks, fashion retailer Eltex and specialist retailer Pearl Boutique. New Look and Dorothy Perkins, which have outlets in the city, will also be moving in.

More than 80% of the units have either been occupied or there are negotiations to fill them. All major units have been taken and the joint owners of the Eagle Centre, Westfield and Hermes, are looking for more specialist stores to take up the smaller spaces.

Westfield Derby's leasing agent, Tom Cartledge, of HEB Charted Surveyors, said, "We're delighted Eltex and Pearl Boutique will be opening their doors to shoppers. The combination of regional and local operators alongside the major national names will ensure a vibrant mix of fashion, food and lifestyle brands." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Aug/06)

More than 150,000 shoppers attended the opening of the new Westfield shopping centre where they were treated to champagne, aerial acrobatic displays and celebrity dance shows. Most people there claimed it was, and will be, a huge success.

However, as retailers were promised "half price" or even zero rent for the first year in order to entice them to fill the units in the new centre, it will be interesting to see how many of them are still there after next year when the full rent becomes payable. Let's hope it doesn't become another Duckworth Square, Main Centre or St Werburgh's Cloisters.

The disabled and people with pushchairs have already discovered a problem with the new centre though. Only three of the nine lifts actually go down to ground level. A spokesman said this was a "design feature". The new shopping centre features nearly 150 shops, dozens of eateries and a cinema. The centre will also have extended opening hours:

9am - 7pm - Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday
9am - 9pm - Thursday and Friday
10.30am - 4.30pm - Sunday

Now that the new Westfield shopping centre is open efforts are being made in attracting traders to fill the empty units created by stores relocating to the centre. John Forkin, of Marketing Derby, believes that Westfield will have a positive impact on the whole of the city and empty shops will be filled within six months. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Oct/07)

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