CONTENTS DIARY OF EVENTS - The Urban Design Group

the on-looking major landowners that the council was serious
about taking this project forward.
Urban design was considered a key component of the new
master plan development, so a consultancy with a good track
record was essential. EDAW proved the successful candidate, due
to its wide range of experience and ability to take projects from
inception through to delivery. Along with a number of other
consultants, EDAW was tasked with the production of a viable
and creative master plan in a seven month time frame.
Unusually, the council team took the role of project
management (or lead consultant). This approach reflected the
council’s desire to drive the project and with urban design at the
forefront, shaping the master plan.
THE PROCESS
The early stages preparing the master plan for the whole town
centre (much of which is destined for demolition) were a rollercoaster
ride of visioning, public participation, scrutiny from
landowners, and developing master plan principles. In parallel,
the evolution of a permeable and legible town centre was taking
shape, and intensive networking was undertaken with adjoining
authorities, the Government Office, CABE and other bodies to
win their endorsement of the process, the level of development
and the master plan principles.
Having started work in late November 2001, by March 2002
the council was consulting on a draft master plan, (the product
of hard work from both the officer and consultant team.) This
then saw the widest level of planning participation that the
council had ever been involved in. A shop unit in the town centre
became the home of officers over a five week period, capturing
comments from many local residents, as well as landowners,
businesses, and interest group representatives.
This participation and an earlier stakeholder event formed
a key aspect of the work of the council’s urban designer, and
involved developing and organising the events, and manning
exhibitions and meeting with schools, community groups and
existing town centre residents to explain the draft master plan.
With the completion of the consultation, the council began
to assess the draft master plan against the issues and comments
raised including comprehensive comments from the two major
landowners. In the preparation of the draft master plan the
council had endeavoured to involve the two parties in each
developmental stage of the master plan. As the landowners
were previously competitors at the inquiry, the council took
the decision to involve them in joint sessions so that consensus
on the master plan objectives could be reached. This method of
evolving the plan was intended to unite the key landowners so
that a final master plan would be achieved which all judged to be
viable, deliverable and desirable.
The council’s approach and its process of producing a master
plan was met with scepticism at the outset but over time it was
clear that it was working. It was apparent that producing a mixed
use master plan based on strong design principles (tempered
with commercial reality), was a way of achieving landowner buyin.
By the end of the process the council had a master plan that
both landowners felt able to support.
The master plan was developed further and revised in
the light of consultation, and after only nine months it was
submitted to a council meeting in July 2002, where it was
approved as Supplementary Planning Guidance (SPG).
BRACKNELL TOWN CENTRE MASTER PLAN
The master plan transforms the current town centre into a mixed
use place, focused on a series of spaces with new pedestrian
connections to the surrounding area (breaking down the existing
ring road). It also introduces large-scale residential development
to a centre (which currently houses fewer than 150 residences) to
add life and vibrancy. Key routes are proposed to the rail station
By the end of the process the
council had a master plan
that both landowners felt able
to support
(currently outside the ring road), across
and through the town centre, breaking
down what is often called ‘Fortress
Bracknell’.
Although the master plan is the
product of many studies (retail capacity,
transport and viability) and has had input
from a great many professionals, it is
urban design which has helped to bond
all of this together. Therefore, issues of
transport systems and commerciality
were balanced against achieving a legible
and well ordered centre, which local
people would feel proud to call their town
centre.
Has the master plan helped?
In the intervening time, the council
(using the experience it gathered in the
process of producing a master plan)
has been working with the landowners
(now working together as one entity) to
produce a planning application for the
town centre. On 22 November 2004 the
council registered an outline planning
application covering the master plan
area, which is broadly in accordance
with the master plan. This responds to
the quantum for the mixed use elements
of the centre as specified in the SPG,
the distribution of uses detailed in the
master plan, the urban design principles
set out by the council, providing a well
considered scheme, now going through
the development control process.
VISION AND LEADERSHIP
What this project illustrates is that
councils need to have vision and courage
Urban Design | Spring 2005 | Issue 94 | 31
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