When Crest Nicholson unveiled its ambitious solution to breathe new life into Farnham’s East Street at the turn of the millennium, it promised much.

A modern retail and leisure hub, complete with shops, restaurants, a cinema, and residential apartments, was to transform the tired corner of town into a vibrant destination.

Yet, two decades on, the project’s narrative has become one of delays, controversies, and disappointments. The withdrawal of Coppa Club, the scheme’s second ‘anchor’ tenant to do so, is only the latest chapter in this troubled tale.

An ambitious vision

What was to later become the Brightwells Yard development arose from the ‘East Street Area of Opportunity’ design brief published by landowner Waverley Borough Council in 2000.

At the time, it reflected the high street trade of the 1990s, predating the banking crisis of 2008 and the gradual decline of physical shopping due to the rise of online retail.

The original brief covered an area of 13.4 acres, encompassing the Woolmead, Farnham Leisure Centre, and the South Street Sainsbury’s store. It aimed to seamlessly integrate with Farnham’s existing town centre.

However, the scheme eventually adopted by Waverley was less ambitious, covering just 10.8 acres and excluding the dilapidated Woolmead site.

Public consultations saw alternative creative visions proposed, such as Michael Blower’s vibrant concept presented in 2002, but these were ignored.

By 2003, Waverley signed a partnership with Crest Nicholson-Sainsbury (CNS), despite concerns over potential conflicts of interest as Waverley was both landowner and planning authority.

Reduced scope

In 2008, the project was scaled down further to 9.8 acres after Sainsbury’s exited the partnership.

This excluded the Sainsbury store and car park, focusing on Waverley-owned land alongside properties acquired through a Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO). These included the Marlborough Head pub, adjacent car park, and the Brightwell Gostrey Centre near Dogflud car park.

Despite more than 5,800 objections, planning consent was granted in 2009. Critics argued the new design was overly dense, with structures higher and bulkier than anything in Farnham’s town centre.

Concerns also arose about the risk of dividing Farnham into two distinct areas - a prosperous West end and a deprived, desolate East end - without adequate pedestrian links to unite the two retail zones.

Financial and legal woes

The development’s financial and contractual journey has been fraught. In 2013, a public inquiry into the CPO raised questions about funding.

Though Waverley insisted the site was ‘shovel ready,’ financing was later revealed to be unavailable. By 2016, the purchase price Crest Nicholson would pay Waverley taxpayers for the land was reduced from £8.76m to £3.19m, below the £4.5m cost of compulsory purchases.

A group of residents and councillors sought a Judicial Review, questioning whether significant contractual changes should have prompted a re-tendering process.

While they raised £80,000 for legal costs, the courts ultimately ruled in favour of Waverley and Crest Nicholson. The core issue of contract management was left unexamined.

To overcome funding difficulties, Surrey County Council agreed to finance the commercial elements of the scheme with public funds, leaving Crest Nicholson to cover the residential aspect.

By 2018, construction had begun, but many questioned the appropriateness of using taxpayer money to subsidise the commercial development.

Construction and criticism

Building work was dogged by delays and controversies over the scheme’s alignment with Farnham’s character.

The inclusion of 239 apartments, many of them small, was criticised for overlooking the infrastructure needed to support new residents, while parking provision was also deemed inadequate.

The project’s ‘Big Bang’ launch in 2022 failed to materialise.

Opening of the Reel Cinema - itself replacing Odeon which had many years before withdrawn from the development - offered some hope.

But the withdrawal of anchor tenants M&S Simply Food and, most recently, Coppa Club, alongside a litany of withdrawals from Wagamama to Ask Italian and Byron Burgers, has left a gaping chasm at the heart of the development.