It's easy to see why Northcote Road is so special - the big question for all of us is how we can keep it that way or enhance it even further.The Northcote Road Action Group's campaign is all about achieving the right balance, working closely with Wandsworth Council and the Northcote Business Network. We want to see a vibrant, diverse shopping area with the right mix of, smaller more specialist shops, boutiques, cafés, restaurants and a blossoming market, alongside the popular chain stores around Clapham Junction.
We are campaigning for:
- The creation of a retail conservation area for Northcote Road, where potential retailers are assessed on whether they will add to the vitality and variety of the road; the size of businesses controlled by retaining single shop frontages and shop sizes capped; a new planning category for food retailers introduced to ensure they stay as food shops if bought by new owners.
- The active encouragement of the major chain stores to develop in the contiguous Clapham Junction area on St John's Road, complementary to the small independent shops of Northcote Road.
- Some serious, investigative research of local residents and businesses into the issues faced by Northcote Road.
- Promotion, encouragement and growth of a thriving street market.
Northcote Road Street Market
The market is an essential ingredient in the vitality and culture - especially the food culture - of Northcote Road. Once extending the length of the road it has recently, like many other markets, contracted and its style changed, with more non-food stalls, but its atmosphere remains lively, friendly and life-enhancing.
The market is currently most active on Fridays and Saturdays when the numbers of shoppers is highest. There is a growing variety of products sold at the market - olives and salami; flowers; fruit and vegetables; bread and cakes; clothing; jewellery; photographic prints. The quality is high but issues include:
- Rents. We would like to see Wandsworth Council keep these as low as possible and consider offering a sliding scale of rents from the cheapest day to the most expensive - the weekends.
- Emphasis on food. With less national planning regulation than with shops, we would like the Council to actively encourage a variety of food stalls. This could include cooked and hot street food.
- Days of opening. Although it may not be realistic, we would welcome stalls being open for more days of the week. This could be helped by providing a sliding scale of rents.
- Hours of opening. Given that a large proportion of residents are working people, we believe the food stalls would do more business if they stayed open later, attracting shoppers on their way home from work. (This could also apply to the shops on the street.)
- Extending the market. We would like to see the market extended towards the Broomwood end of the road, revitalising and bringing more shoppers to that end.
- Promotion. We would welcome more active promotion of the market, through press articles, activities such as food festivals and the attractive 2007 calendar.
Although the idea of introducing a ready-made farmers' market on Sundays has its appeal and could be very attractive to locals, we believe that it could adversely impact some of the existing small shops. We feel strongly that the Council should be encouraged to unlock its market stall waiting list and work to nurture our own bustling Northcote market, without having to resort to buying in the off-the-peg version.
Action undertaken so far:
Northcote Road Campaign -
Evidence to Council
In October 2006, 6682 people signed the petition organised by our group, asking the Council to take what action it could to preserve the unique character of Northcote Road. The petition clearly formed part of the Local Development Framework (LDF) consultation process, so we are confident of the overwhelming support of local residents for the aims we are pursuing here... >
Click HERE to download the full pdf of evidence and proposals handed to Wandsworth Borough Council
Northcote Road Campaign -
Our Impact So Far
There's been a steady flow of local press coverage with almost a story each week in the Wandsworth Borough News and other local papers. This is now making an impact on our visits to the Town Hall where everyone is aware of our group and what we are striving to do. If you haven't heard, Northcote Ward Councillor and local resident Peter Dawson presented a 6,682 name petition to the full Wandsworth Borough Council... >
Click HERE to download the full pdf of the Northcote Road Campaign Newsletter