by David Lindsell

AT last! After years of delays and false starts, the green light has finally been given to a £53million redevelopment of Farnborough town centre.

For nearly a decade, shoppers have been growing weary, waiting for the ageing Queensmead and Kingsmead developments to be demolished and replaced.

On Monday developer Key Property Investments (KPI) and Rushmoor Borough Council announced they had both signed on the dotted line.

If all goes according to plan, shoppers could be doing their 2008 Christmas shopping in the rejuvenated town centre.

Council leader Peter Moyle said: “This has been very complicated and difficult to put together but we have persevered and now we are delivering a revitalised town centre, as promised.

“The end result will breathe new life into the retail offering and the leisure choices available to our residents in Farnborough.”

Andrew Lloyd, council chief executive, described the occasion as momentous.

He said: “I’m delighted we have been able to sign the development agreement to bring about the town centre’s regeneration.

“I know residents have been disappointed at the time it has taken but it has been an incredibly complex project.

“It is one that we needed to get right, both to secure the town centre’s future prosperity and to protect taxpayers’ money.”

KPI project manager Simon Rutter said: “This is fantastic news. It’s been hard work but we have had the right result.

“I’m delighted that it has all culminated in the signing of the agreement and I am just looking forward to getting on site.

“We are not going to pretend there’s not going to be some disturbance, some noise and some dust but we will do whatever we can to make sure there is as little impact on tenants and shoppers as possible.

“Roll on the JCBs.”

The main phase of work should begin in a few weeks’ time with new shops, leisure facilities and homes promised.

A 50,000 sq ft Sainsbury’s  superstore, an eight-screen Vue cinema, a Gala bingo hall and a 77-bed Travelodge hotel are set to appear over the next 18 months.

KPI is specifically targeting the types of shops it wants to bring in, including homes and gardens, children’s clothes and restaurants and sandwich bars.

Mr Rutter said: “We want to change the face of Farnborough. We expect it to be a totally new shopping experience.

“We have the ability to introduce better retailers, trading out of better formatted stores, giving the shopper a better choice in a number of categories.

“We have had a piece of research by Retail Group to target for us what the resident population requires.

“Farnborough has a better than average wealth catchment with a good resident population within a very short drive time that isn’t using the town centre as much as we expect it to.”

If it had not been for public objections, Mr Rutter believed that the town centre could have been complete by now.

He said: “It’s a democratic process which has meant at every stage we are open to scrutiny and consultation to anybody who wants to be consulted.

“That is history now. It’s taken us longer than we might have envisaged but certainly no longer than other town centres.

“As a result of this we are probably two or two-and-a-half years behind where we could have been.

“What we have lost is time. “We want to look forward and not dwell on the past.”

To ensure everything is seen to be on schedule, KPI has agreed to carry out the remainder of the project with open book accounting. This  means at any time Rushmoor Borough Council can ask to view the finances or progress reports on the £53million worth of construction.

Mr Rutter said: “It’s a totally transparent agreement between us so they can monitor our progress.

“We are delivering what we always said we would deliver.”

Many residents and councillors have become cynical about the delays in the project.

Others have been opposed from the beginning, like Keith Parkins, a constant critic of the  scheme.

Mr Parkins raised objections leading to a public inquiry into the closure of roads vital to the scheme. He said: “I predicted KPI would lay waste to the town centre and I have been proven right. It is now dead. All they have done is driven out all the retailers. I know people who have gone bankrupt and lost their houses.”

He described claims he had almost single-handedly stalled the town centre development as garbage.

“Are they saying whenever a large developer puts in a planning application we are in a Stalinist state?” he asked.

“If we had a competent council we would have compulsory purchase orders on the town centre in the public interest.

“The council has got into bed with the developers. So far, I haven’t been proved wrong.”

Mr Parkins is standing as an independent candidate in Thursday’s borough council elections, and will go head-to-head with deputy leader of the council Roland Dibbs in the town’s Knellwood ward.

Farnborough town centre is one of the issues the campaigner wants to use to unseat the Tory councillor.

Cllr Dibbs said most people were in favour of the scheme.

“I have put on my election leaflets that Keith Parkins has held it up for years mostly through his own efforts,” he said. “There have been about three objections which have added time and one application for judicial review.

“That has added two years as a conservative estimate.”

He said that he did not think Mr Parkins would win any votes by opposing the town centre redevelopment.

The way forward for the town centre revamp

HEALTH and safety submissions of the site and finalisation of construction arrangements to begin straight away.

DEMOLITION of Queensmead and Kingsmead site to begin on May 8 and last until end of August.

NEW footpaths for the north of the town centre before  closure of Queensmead.

DIVERSION of gas and water pipes, phone lines, two main sewers, fibre optics and electricity lines to make room for foundations of new building.

WORK on Solartron housing to replace Firgrove Court currently out to tender. “Highly unlikely” to be any hitches before work begins after Christmas. By September the outlines of the three storey homes should be visible.

MAIN block of scheme – Sainsbury’s block, Gala Bingo, retail units, begins after Christmas. First retail units should be available by September 2008 and shoppers in by Christmas 2008. Travelodge hotel in Victoria Road likely to be started middle of next year and completed early 2009.

CINEMA planning application is due to be submitted within two weeks and depending on decision could begin work early 2008.