Council to discuss long-awaited town centre revamp

The Martlets Shopping Centre has been described as "dirty" and "derelict"

A planning committee is to discuss the future of a town centre revamp in West Sussex first proposed nearly 20 years ago.

The £65m redevelopment of the now "largely empty" Martlets Shopping Centre in Burgess Hill is set to provide extra shops, a cinema, bowling alley, gymnasium, hotel and 172 flats.

Plans for the site have stalled and been redrawn several times since originally being proposed in 2006 with the pandemic, a downturn in retail trends and a lack of funding all cited as reasons.

However, last year Mid Sussex District Council voted to enter into a joint venture with developers to finally get the scheme off the ground.

Aiming to "revitalise the area socially, economically and visually", the scheme was initially given permission in 2016.

Back then the vision was for a 200,000 sq ft (18,580 sqm) development that included shops, a cinema, hotel, five restaurants,142 flats, a library, gym and more than 500 car parking spaces.

In 2019 the much-loved Martlets Hall entertainment venue was demolished as part of the project, which had subsequently been tweaked to be less "retail led" and more leisure orientated than before.

That version was given the go-ahead in July 2021 but plans currently before the council have since been amended yet again.

Residents say they really want a new lease of life to be given to the town

Aside from a few letters of objection, for many locals the work cannot start soon enough.

Resident Terry Davies said: "The centre used to be full of shops but now it's largely empty and really dirty looking.

"We've been waiting so long for the redevelopment but it never seems to get finished."

Melanie Cuttriss added: "It looks horrible around here, so empty.

"There no reason to come down this part anymore. A fresher looking centre with some new shops would be nice."