Have your say on council-owned neighbourhood parades

Crawley Borough Council is consulting on how it runs its 11 neighbourhood parades.

The current approach was agreed in 2004 following an Overview and Scrutiny Commission recommendation that the council adopt a more commercial attitude to the parades.

Dorsten Square, Bewbush.

This approach is now being reconsidered by the Council-owned Neighbourhood Parades Scrutiny Panel, which has launched wide-ranging surveys for parade tenants and users of the parades to inform its work.

The management of the council’s parades comprises a number of aspects, which contribute to the way the parades are run. These include:

• The level of rent set, and how this might be assessed
• The type of uses allowed in the units
• The balance of those uses within a parade
• Potential tenants’ readiness to run a business, and their influence upon a parade, through the proposed use
• Ensuring that tenants meet their repairing obligations alongside the council carrying out parade improvements
• The basis upon which the flats above the shops are allowed to be let.

To respond to the survey, visit crawley.gov.uk/consultation before the closing date of Friday 11 June.

Pound Hill Parade

Councillor Bob Lanzer, Chair of the Council-owned Neighbourhood Parades Scrutiny Panel, said: “Whether you’re a tenant or a shopper, we want to hear your views on the neighbourhood parades that you use.

“Please complete the survey and help the council decide how it runs its 11 parades.”

The council’s parades are Dorsten Square, Bewbush; Ewhurst Road, West Green; Furnace Parade; Gales Drive, Three Bridges; Gossops Parade; Ifield Drive, Ifield; Langley Parade; Northgate Parade; Pound Hill Parade; Southgate Parade and Tilgate Parade.

The parades at Broadfield Barton, Maidenbower Square and Peterhouse Parade are not owned by Crawley Borough Council.