2. Remembrance
The balcony we have mentioned will also give additional sheltered viewing for those unable to stand at the ceremony, there will still be plenty of space left.
3. The Market
The current market barely uses half the car park as it is, and is reducing year on year. There is potential for the new centre to extend the market with indoor stalls on a Saturday on occasions, such as craft markets, antiques fairs etc. Its immediate proximity to the car park will give a symbiotic relationship with the existing market, rather than drawing away.
4. Parking
The square will remain available for parking and be a visible car park for the Town, at some point it could be possible to filter cars round to Victoria Road when it is full, currently this option is barricaded off, but it does not need to stay that way.
5. The Town Square we have never had
The combination of a multi purpose open space, flanked by three buildings, (Library, New Harlington and The Arthur) will be available as a focal point for many and varied activities in the future, as said above the integration with the Harlington will also make such things so much easier.

The VENUE
As a venue itself it is being purpose built for Fleet. The Harlington staff have 8 years’ experience running their venue and they know what sells and what people want to see. The new main auditorium will have the correct number of seats to enable them to licence the right size of acts that Fleet demands. If it has too many seats it will come up against Woking, Southampton, Basingstoke etc. And frankly, as also in retail, it can not compete and draw the crowds it would need.
There are however a considerable number of acts, show and performances that want venues of this size, but they don’t want to play in an old school hall. So instead of people saying “why are they coming to  Fleet”, people will appreciate that they are coming to a quality venue.
The seating areas can also be removed for many of the other things people in Fleet love. Tribute bands and theme nights always sell out, and ensuring the space is right for them is vital.
The venue will also have a smaller venue which will be great for emerging bands and drama groups to use and give them a feeling of a full small space rather than a half empty auditorium.  It will make a great rehearsal room and be bookable by clubs and groups who don’t need a massive space.


The DISRUPTION
No one wants to lose GS car park for up to two years, but we need to put this into perspective. Whatever project is done we will lose that space, or its equivalent. A refurbishment project will require a builder’s compound just as much as a new build will. In fact any development in that area will cause a considerable amount of disruption. It is therefore a fact that if we want improvement there is a price to pay.  I am as concerned as anyone as to the potential loss of customers the short term loss of GS will bring. I am 50 yds from it. Well on Saturdays it is not available, and that is my busiest day. So I did a survey* for the rest of the week. 10% of my customers use GS Monday to Friday as opposed to other ways of coming into Town.  Not insignificant, but considerably less than I expected.

What of the EXISTING HARLINGTON?
It is an excellent question, and one that only HDC can answer, and the fact is I do not think they know, also I would not expect them to have gone to the expense of drawing up options until they know they are going to be handed it back.  What I do know is that their current offices adjacent are no longer believed to be fit for purpose and various development options have been considered.
As far as I am aware there is nothing set in stone. The release of this land will mean they are able to look at the whole remaining area as one block. Any views beyond that is just speculation.

The LONG-TERM
The Portas report had many failings, in that Mary Portas seemed to believe that Towns could be moulded like a department store is, however this is not the case, especially in Fleet with hundreds of different freehold and lease holders doing their own thing, Towns evolve to individual’s requirements.  However one thing that came out clearly was that Towns need to offer a mix of social and retail. For retail to survive people need to be drawn away from their Amazon accounts on their PC and into Town.   Attractive centres offering a varied mix of entertainment, courses, markets, exercise etc.  at different times of day is an excellent way to increase footfall, from which everyone can benefit.  I believe a new purpose built centre can go a long way to fulfilling that role in Fleet.



COST
Yes it will cost us a little bit more. It costs on average for a band D home just under £30 more per year to live in Fleet than in one of the surrounding parishes.   That figure could be reduced if we do not build a new building, but then again, depending on the on-going maintenance costs of the existing one it may not be reduced by much.  Every parish supports a community centre of one kind or another. Where ever you live you can use them at a rate considerably lower than a commercially run equivalent.  Fleet could build another small pavilion sized project, but that would not serve to improve the mix we have available and we would lose an asset that is increasingly growing in popularity.

Should only Fleet pay?
It is a good question. The people of Fleet are producing a facility that others can use. So where do we draw the line? Church Crookham? Yateley? Hook? If we take this principal literally we would have to lose all our parks. The Views, Calthorpe Park, Oakley Park etc. All are owned and maintained by the people of Fleet. Do we let people visit our Town but ask them to divert their eyes from the flowers that WE paid for. There will always be geographic and constituancy borders. But we get to visit other Towns and enjoy the facilities they have paid for and are proud of. Do we cut off our nose to spite our face? Does society halt progress and let their Towns degrade? Or do we do what we can for everyone's benefit and when we visit elsewhere be grateful for what they have done for everyone? I want to be proud of where I live, and I'm happy to pay a little bit more to live in a better place.

If you have read this far I would like to thank you,
I have come under a great deal of criticism for voicing my opinion on this matter, and have been accused of being a puppet of the council. I think anyone who has known my history on such matters knows that if I disagree with something I say so, and if I support something I will help in any way I can.  The above are only my views; I have lived in Fleet for 44 years, worked here for 30 and had a shop for 24 years. I am a Fleet rate payer.

Kevin Whibley.

*A respond to the comment about my survey being flawed in which I stated that less than 10% of my customers used Gurkha Square car park.  Fleet has  542 Council spaces in paid for car parks. 520 Spaces in the Hart Shopping Centre.
There are two pub car parks which now charge.  50% of my respondents either parked on street for free or walked in.  Gurkha Square provides less than 10% of Council Parking provision, and less than 5% of the Towns paid for provision, (excluding the fact it is not available on Saturdays.)
So taking into account that 50% of my customers did not pay to park. Statistically I could expect just 2.5% of my customers to use Gurkha Square. Given my proximity to the car park I still think that a figure of 10% is accurate and whilst showing I have a probably greater reliance on it than businesses in the Centre of Town, that reliance still appears to be relatively small. From a personal perspective the short term loss of this facility does not concern me as much as the lost opportunity of this investment. Long term I feel this remains an important visible car park for the Town as a whole.