New plans for a long-abandoned Bury St Edmunds shopping centre have been criticised by residents and a councillor – who are calling for others to make their feelings known.
Amended blueprints for the derelict Cornhill Walk Shopping Centre, in Brentgovel Street, have been submitted to West Suffolk Council, with applicant Knightspur Homes Limited hoping to redevelop the site into 42 flats and houses with 43 resident parking spaces, along with two commercial units on the ground floor.
The accommodation mix would include 35 one, two and three-bedroom flats, six townhouses facing on to Well Street and one detached house facing on to Short Brackland.
Eastgate ward district councillor Cliff Waterman said he and local people did not support the plans, which he described as a ‘minor reworking’ of previous proposals.
“It would be a great big blob slap bang in the middle of our historic market town,” said Cllr Waterman.
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“It doesn’t seriously address the issues on which it was rejected last time, namely size, height, mass and scale. In short, it’s too big for the site. If built it would dominate the area visually.
“There are serious concerns with the new proposal about parking and access, with potentially dangerous mixing of pedestrians, cyclists and cars.”
Cornhill Walk was built on the site of an Art Deco cinema. The centre closed at the end of 2016 and has stood empty since.
An earlier scheme for the site was rejected by the planning inspectorate in 2021 on the grounds of mass, scale and proximity to Moyse’s Hall.
“I’d like to see a development more in keeping with the character of the area – smaller terraced houses with gardens and parking perhaps. We need the old eyesore of Cornhill Walk taken down, but we don’t need another monstrosity in its place,” said Cllr Waterman.
“I don’t know anyone who thinks more high density flats are what we need. We need decent houses for local people.”
The Cornhill Walk site also faces on to Well Street and Short Brackland. The Well Street Association met to discuss the plans on Monday evening.
Pauline Judge, of the association, said: “The Well Street side now has a proposed terrace of town houses. The Short Brackland side plan is still a massive block totally at odds with the scale of houses at the bottom of the street. The end result is underwhelming.
“After all this time the result is a plan including as many units as possible to get through the planning process, presumably so the whole site can be sold on with planning permission.
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“Is this what we want in Bury? This is an important site in town and will be key in the way our town is developed in the future.”
Rowland Smith, Well Street resident, said his concerns included the scale of size and massing of the proposed development, overlooking and car parking.
“It appears to many residents that this long-winded application process involves taking a pig of design and incrementally applying more makeup in the hope eventually someone will yield to attrition and marry it,” said Rowland.
“The current proposal is not materially better than those before and should once more be rejected by our town, as should others of similar merit which will doubtless follow. Some, like the reconstruction of the ex-NHS clinic in Looms Lane, should be applauded while others, like the Cold War block in Tayfen Road, just show how bad cheap design can be.”
The developer was approached for comment.
A consultation on the latest proposals runs until June 14. See the plans and comment online at www.westsuffolk.gov.uk, reference DC/22/2181/FUL.
Find out about planning applications that affect you at the Public Notice Portal.