by Simon Stevenson

Having returned to the Newark area to ply my trade after a sojourn of a dozen plus years in the commercial and real estate brokerage and investment field in the United States, I am delighted to see first hand the giant strides that this area has taken over the past decade.

The commercial market is, generally speaking, quite buoyant, particularly in the business space and industrial sectors.
Unfortunately, like many market towns up and down the country, Newark has not been spared the general malaise that is currently gripping the retail sector.

That said, amid the disappointment of more traditional style industry closures, comes the good news: the birth of service and hi-tech businesses, highlighted by the recent opening of Project Telecom’s call centre on Brunel Drive on the Newark Industrial Estate and the news that Woolworths has acquired the site formerly utilised as the Northgate Brewery in order to develop, so I am told, only the fourth flagship-style megastore in the UK.

Interestingly, the three sites before Newark were all located in major cities rather than a smaller market town setting.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realise why Newark’s location is key to its continued development.

However we cannot, and must not, rest on our laurels.

The quality of the roads has been overtaken by the volume of traffic utilising them and although I am pleased to see that long last the dualling of the A46 between Newark and Lincoln is scheduled to commence in 2001, more of the same is urgently needed.

The rail link we have enjoyed between London and ourselves must not be surrendered. I recently attended a presentation by one of Virgin Rail’s non-executive directors at the Chambers premises here in Newark.

Although the audience was not as hostile as I expected, the concerns over the potential loss of future economic development were obvious as the highspeed link under Virgin’s scheme bypasses both Grantham and Newark on its journey between Peterborough Parkway and Doncaster Finningley Parkway.
Continuing economic development has to be attracted to the area and the infrastructure will play a major role in the inward investment decision-making process.

We are blessed with having a pro-active Chamber of Commerce, which has fostered good relationships with both the town and district councils.

The relationship with the county council is certainly evolving and what the newly-appointed economic development representative lacked In public speaking prowess he made up for in grit and determination to foster closer and better ties.

Personally speaking, in the nine months I have actively been involved in the local commercial property market, I have been dually honoured by being appointed to the Nottingham Trent University’s Board of Governors Estates Advisory Panel and to assist emda with the continuing quest to attract inward investment to our region from which Newark can only benefit.

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