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Redevelopment

A long row of 14th century timber framed buildings in England located on East Grinstead High Street.

The East Grinstead Town Centre Master Plan was adopted by Mid Sussex District Council in July 2006 as a Supplementary Planning Document (SPD). The town centre regeneration scheme was drawn up by the District Council in partnership with Thornfield Properties plc.

In 2009 Thornfield Properties plc collapsed, putting the future of the entire redevelopment scheme in doubt. However, the District Council says it is continuing to negotiate with other developers [25] but does not intend to put public money into regeneration.

Several public consultations in recent years have been consistent in saying that any re-development must retain the town's character to enjoy local support. Currently, the Town Council is undertaking further consultation as it produces a Neighbourhood Plan under the Localism Act 2011. Until this has been passed by a referendum and adopted the District Council's Master Plan remains in place.

The Master Plan scheme set out to address problems resulting from a legacy of largely 1970s buildings, several decades of under-investment and a short term planning approach by the planning authority that have left the town centre with outdated commercial space. It proposes a substantial reconstruction of the town centre with Queensway car park, Queens Walk and West Street identified as key areas for regeneration. It would include a new town square as a focal point, a better mix of commercial retail space, increased active shop frontage, and new residential properties.

The declining attractiveness of the existing commercial property stock and the overall decline in local jobs, in recent years, have directly affected the volume and quality of trade and so the town's economic well-being. Notably, buildings that were built for regional offices of national banking and financial organisations have been left empty as their business models have changed. This has reduced the number of non-retail jobs in the town centre and so now many residents do their non food shopping out of town. As a result some town centre retailers have closed and commercial premises are left vacant. The Town Centre faces strong competition from the larger commercial centres of Crawley and Tunbridge Wells which attract shoppers with their better transport infrastructure and wider retail offers.[26]

Currently, the County Council is looking to make improvements to the road infrastructure, with emphasis on the key junctions along the A22, from the Town Centre to Felbridge. Recent transport studies show these junction improvements are essential to ease congestion that will be generated by development already sanctioned by the District Council. At the same time, proposals for a new bypass, which attracted significant community opposition due to the scale of new housing required to fund it, have now been shelved by the principal authorities, having been shown to be undeliverable because of, their ineffectiveness at providing traffic relief, the environmental risks to European sites of the Ashdown Forest and the high costs.

The linking of the town with the heritage Bluebell Railway, curently underway and due for completion in 2013, will help regenerate the town centre, if it it brings a hoped for increase in tourism from new Bluebell visitors arriving via the Network Rail link to London.

The railway station is currently being redeveloped by Network Rail. A new modular station will replace the existing concrete structure, itself built to replace a grand wooden Victorian-era railway station that was sold and moved to the USA. The Station quarter is also identified for improvement.