The Howard de Walden Estate is a major landowner in Marylebone including most of the retail units on Marylebone High Street as well as the freehold of most of the properties surrounding the Moxon St Car Park. The Estate has owned these properties for over 130 years and has a strong long term commitment to this area. The Estate has been responsible for the transformation and regeneration of Marylebone Village into the award winning location it has become today.
As a significant stakeholder in the area the Estate feels strongly that the redevelopment of the Moxon Street Car Park site should be carried out in a manner that is appropriate to the area and meets the needs of the local community.
The Estate was encouraged by the results of the WCC consultation that a clear majority of those who responded were in favour of a scheme that provided open space. The Estate certainly believes that open space is essential and would expect this provision to be stipulated as part of any development of the site if it was in private ownership.
However, in many people’s views, the options put forward by WCC did not comprehensively illustrate or utilise the full potential of the site, as none of the schemes included an option to close and extend across Cramer Street in order to provide an enhanced scheme offering added benefits that outweigh any disadvantages that may arise from closing Cramer Street and not reinstating the historic building line. The planning brief approved by the planning committee was specifically amended to permit such a possibility. The Estate does not believe the public were aware that the road closure was an option. The omission of this entirely feasible option, the benefits of which are set out below, has produced, in the Estate’s view, an incomplete public consultation to date and for this reason the Estate has decided to hold its own consultation to offer an alternative option for viewing and public comment. It is believed that this will enable the public to be better informed of the possible development options for this critical and important site in the heart of the Marylebone.
As the proposed Westminster Adult Education Centre will benefit the whole of Westminster and possibly beyond, the Estate feels strongly that the remainder of the development should provide benefits specifically aimed at, and needed by, the local community here in Marylebone.
As part of the consultation the Estate has commissioned the highly respected architects Fletcher Priest to prepare a scheme that incorporates the closure of Cramer Street. The Estate believes that the scheme offers a refinement and improvement on the WCC ‘open space’ scheme which received by far the greatest level of support from the local community of the three limited options presented at the WCC consultation. It should be noted that none of the previous options included both public space and community use. The choice was limited to either public space or community use. The closure of Cramer Street enables a layout that could provide both, whilst at the same time recognising WCC’s wish to maximize the proceeds that they will receive from the sale of the site.
Whilst preparing this scheme the Estate consulted widely with local residents, representatives, businesses and institutions and this scheme has the support of Waitrose, the Farmers’ Market, the Royal Academy of Music, the local Health Centre, and local residents for the nursery.
The Estate's scheme has been prepared on the assumption that the Adult Education Centre will be approved by WCC and built on approximately one third of the site at the southern end adjacent to existing education uses.
The Estate believes that all options for the development should be considered and the public are encouraged to participate in this consultation process. In the "Have Your Say" section of the website, there is a questionnaire which the Estate would like you to complete.
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INDICATIVE VIEW WEST DOWN MOXON STREET TOWARDS NEW SQUARE