The Broxbourne Local Plan 2018-2033, which opened the door for the £700million Sunset Film Studios and the transformative Brookfield Riverside project, is shortlisted for the national Planning Awards.
The Borough’s scheme is a finalist for the Award for Plan-Making category, with winners to be announced at a ceremony on 9 June 2022 at The Mermaid in London.
Broxbourne’s Local Plan presented an opportunity to use development to kickstart the local economy. The plan, which was subject to an examination in public by the Government’s Planning Inspector, was adopted in 2020 and is already creating thousands of new jobs and homes in the Borough.
Land at Brookfield will be re-imagined as a town centre focused on the New River known as ‘Brookfield Riverside’. This £400 million retail and leisure development will be within easy walking distance of a new Garden Village community of 1,250 homes.
Land at Park Plaza West was acquired in the summer of 2021, and Los Angeles-based studio owner and operator Hudson Pacific has submitted a planning application for a £700million ‘world class’ Sunset Studios film and production facility. It is estimated the studios will add £300million annually to the local economy and create 4,500 jobs.
Elsewhere in the Borough, work is already underway transforming a Cheshunt industrial estate, one third of which consisted of the vacated Tesco headquarters. Inland Homes acquired a controlling interest in the ‘Cheshunt Lakeside’ site, relocating their offices into existing buildings on the site. Outline permission for the masterplan and 1,725 homes was granted in 2019.
Construction of the first phase is well underway. Road has been completed to allow a bus loop through a new local centre that will also connect with the adjacent railway station. Development will also see new parklands created in the area.
For more on the Broxbourne Local Plan 2018-2033, visit www.broxbourne.gov.uk/localplan.