Hillingdon Council is set to approve a regeneration framework for Hayes Town Centre next week.

It is the council’s first ever spatial strategy for the borough’s second largest town centre, and will focus on addressing deprivation in the town.

Despite major residential developments, the proximity to Heathrow Airport and the Elizabeth line, Hayes remains one of Hillingdon’s most deprived areas.

According to local census data, the growing population and business base in Hayes are not settling and staying in the town.

A council report states that this could be “due to a lack of social amenities, civic pride and connectivity”.

Hillingdon Council says that the framework will “directly complement and enhance the Infrastructure Development Plan, where the focus is on key strategic infrastructure projects, while the framework will look to incrementally improve the public realm through targeted interventions.”

The framework identifies the opportunities and challenges facing Hayes Town Centre.

It translates this understanding into a vision with strategic themes and a project bank of potential interventions.

In a report by Jas Bhalla Works, a document that informed the creation of the new framework states that “out-of-town commercial development in close proximity to Hayes Town has led to a marked decline in higher value retail units along the high street.

“In its place, the town centre has seen a rise in retail units with lower contribution to high street vitality, including uses such as pawnbrokers, gambling shops and fast-food outlets, as well as increasing rates of crime and anti-social behaviour”.

Crime surveys show that 54% of students say there are places in the town that they would not go to because they do not feel safe.

In business, 44% of shopkeepers reported anti-social behaviour affecting their trade, and 56% say most problems happen in the evening.

The report also highlights a lack of free public spaces for people to gather.

Most notably, the report notes that “shops and fast-food restaurants have become informal gathering spaces, particularly for young people, which has broader implications on health and wellbeing.”

The themes included in the framework have been selected to address key problems and to create a plan for intervention.

One theme is for a “thriving town centre” which will aim to strengthen the high street as the “economic heart” of Hayes and the focus for future growth.

Second, “active connections” means the council will look at ensuring people can move safely between the station, high street and neighbourhoods.

On the environment, a “greener, bluer Hayes” will see the high street linked to the town’s canal, parks and green spaces as part of a “healthier and more attractive centre”.

Improvements to social and leisure provisions will bring vacant units in the town back into public use.

Finally, the framework will celebrate Hayes’ heritage and identity to build partnerships for the future.

The framework has identified key areas grouped by local assets and opportunities, such as Station Road and Coldharbour Lane, that form the “commercial spine of the town centre”.

Hayes and Harlington station is described as providing “an important arrival point and connection to the Elizabeth line” with the Grand Union Canal intersecting the town centre, “linking Hayes to a wider green and blue landscape”.

Community, faith, leisure and cultural facilities are distributed through the area, alongside historic sites and major locations of new investment, such as the Old Vinyl Factory.

These features, the council says, are part of Hayes’ character, but are experienced as “distinct and disconnected clusters” which results in a town centre context in which “important destinations can be close to one another, but form part of different physical and social environments”.

Once approved by Cabinet on Thursday, November 20, the council says it will use the framework to support discussion and investment.

The immediate actions are to confirm delivery arrangements and develop business cases for priority projects.

The implementation of new interventions will be delivered in phases depending on complexity, with “early focus on delivery of key and ‘quick-win’ projects”.