Walnuts Centre development wants your input

Take part in shaping town’s future

Orpington community invited to share their views on the future of The Walnuts Shopping Centre at Community Planning Weekend

RESIDENTS, businesses and the wider community are invited to take part in a series of workshops and an exhibition to share their ideas and aspirations for The Walnuts Shopping Centre and thoughts on the wider town centre. The events are part of a Community Planning Weekend at The Walnuts Shopping Centre.

are committed to working closely with the local community to help shape its future at the heart of Orpington town centre.

The Community Planning Weekend is a chance to share local knowledge and contribute to creating a new vision for the shopping centre through facilitated workshops and handson planning groups. An exhibition will explain the background of the Following the public workshop days, the team will analyse and summarise the outcomes and draw up a Vision for The Walnuts Shopping Centre. This will be presented back to the local community at a ‘Report Back’ presentation.

Everyone in the Orpington community is invited to attend.

Community Planning Weekend Public Workshops and Exhibition Friday 20 March 2020 1:45pm - 5:30pm Saturday 21 March 2020 11am - 4pm

Following the acquisition of The Walnuts Shopping Centre last year, operating partner Areli Real Estate, JTP and Cascade Communications are organising the event on behalf of new owners Tikehau Capital. Areli shopping centre and team members will be on hand to answer questions. Participation is on a drop-in basis – there is no need to pre-register – you can stay for a short while, a few hours or for the whole event. Report Back Presentation Tuesday 24 March 6:45pm to 8:30pm

Venue Former Argos unit Walnuts Shopping Centre Orpington BR6 0TW

Welcome to the Spring edition of The Orpington 1st Magazine, connecting you directly to those that help shape our town centre.

As we enter not just a new year but also a new decade, we can all look forward to the vison of a modern and vibrant town taking shape, one which delivers for everyone.

As high streets up and down the country are challenged with adapting to the changes in customer behaviour, with the increase in online shopping and with changing expectations of businesses and the services they off er, Orpington is set to take on that challenge with a robust response and innovative transformation.

We are delighted that with the recent acquisition of the Walnuts Shopping Centre by Tikehau Capital, we have in their operations partner, Areli, a collaborative, socially minded and ambitious partner with whom all stakeholders can work.

15,000 copies are printed of each edition of The Orpington 1 st Magazine. 13,000 are delivered to homes across Orpington with a further 2,000 available to pick up at locations across the town centre. The magazine is also available to read online, sent to a subscriber base of 6,000, and promoted to a combined social media following of over 10,000.

Orpington 1 st

Business Improvement District www.orpington1st.co.uk Orpington1st 01689 829 527 info@orpington1st.co.uk

3 Walnuts Centre development wants your input 6 Look back at Light Up Orpington 9 Vote for Orpington’s Finest 11 New Year, New Career? 12 Meet Gareth Bacon, MP 17 Scarecrow Trail packs a punch 20 Look back at the 2019 Santa Dash 23 St John Ambulance centennial 24 HSL: creative comforts 29 Better for Business 30 Rotary Young Chef Awards 33 Honours for Restaurateur 34 New Businesses, Fresh Looks 37 Smart Policing in Town 38 Raising money for homeless

Orpington 1st, which is made up of all the businesses in the town centre, has invested £1.5 million in the town since 2013 and continues that investment through a broad and diverse programme of support and improvements, making it better for business and better for customers.

As we prepare the town for the exciting year ahead we have already started our Spring clean, making sure that the environment in which we live and work is well managed and welcoming, and we will once again be working to connect and add value to our green spaces, making spaces that support the wellbeing of all users. From the return of the pop-up pallet park to the installation of living walls we have some great projects planned for the spring.

Our events programme continues to grow, and as we look back at our Christmas events we can see just how many people are attracted to take part and visit the town, providing residents with some great entertainment and the business community with an opportunity to showcase their services. From Easter trails to VE day celebrations and from Wimbledon to Tokyo, 2020 will be an exciting year so keep up to date by visiting www.orpington1st.co.uk and join us in making a vibrant town centre.