Major fashion retailers and a new food store could be at the centre of a multi-million pound scheme to transform the town centre of Burgess Hill, according to proposals presented by New River Retail.

New River is the Head Leaseholder of the Martlets Shopping Centre in Burgess Hill.  On Thursday 28 July, they shared their ideas to improve Burgess Hill Town Centre with Mid Sussex District Council and members of the public at a meeting of the Council’s Better Mid Sussex Advisory Group.

New River has been in discussions with both Mid Sussex District Council and Burgess Hill Town Council, looking at ways to improve the retail offering in the town centre, deliver better car parking, revitalise Martlets Hall and the library, as well as looking to improve the public areas within the town centre.

In the plans unveiled at the meeting, New River will look to substantially increase the commercial floor space in Burgess Hill Town Centre and bring in a strong anchor store. In the presentation to the Council, New River stated that initial discussions are taking place with a number of different major retailers. Chains similar to Next, Hennes, River Island, Debenhams and Primark are just some of the big names in the running to potentially fill the anchor store position.

As part of the presentation, New River expressed their desire to improve the look of the town by delivering architecture that is sympathetic to the surrounding buildings and a quality finish, not just to new buildings but to existing shops in the Martlets shopping centre as well. Proposals were also outlined that would see the unattractive Martlets multi-storey car park removed, as part of the transformation of the town centre.

“This really is an incredibly exciting time for the people living in, or near to, Burgess Hill, said Councillor Gary Marsh, Cabinet Member for Planning and Regeneration. “The Council has put a lot of hard work into producing Masterplans for our towns that help to guide future development and I am delighted to see that our plans are continuing to attract quality interest from investors.

“We have been encouraging investors to come forward with schemes and this one from New River is really grabbing people’s attention. If we can improve the retail offering in the Town Centre then people are less likely to shop outside of Mid Sussex and that has to be great news for residents and the local economy.”

To see information on the town centre regeneration, go to www.midsussex.gov.uk/towncentres and to read the agendas, reports and minutes of the meetings see www.midsussex.gov.uk/bmsadvisorygroup.