Southend Central Area Action Plan

The main point missed was the need to plan for the different types of people who use Southend, Residents, Visitors and Workers.
The currently adopted Council plans mix late night revellers from the night clubs and pubs through newly created residential arrears such as the St. John's Quarter and the proposed road layout mixes the movement of Workers in and out of Southend with Residents the moving in the opposite direction at the same time. Many new crossing points have been created where traffic will compete for road space and parking.

Herbert Grove Residents believe that only the very minimum has been done necessary to 'tick the box'. The studies seem to have been carried out by consultants who have been no further than Brighton and do bring any of the new design ideas from successful holiday and commercial centres such as Alicante, Nice, Cannes and nearer at Le Touquet.

Southend has a very defined visitors season and no out of season attractions. The Council should consider the provision of a major venue for 'out of season' activities.
The Lido on the beach at Le Touquet or the Pyramids centre in Blackpool should be considered.

Although Herbert Grove Residents support these objectives we worry about there application by a Council and Planning department that have not studied other successful seaside towns apart from Brighton.

Although Herbert Grove Residents support these objectives we believe that the plan proposed by RSL did not have the necessary experience of other successful seaside towns and offered poor and unimaginative solutions to the problems identified.

There is so much wrong and so many missed opportunities in the plan they are too numerous to list here.
The main ones are:
No provision has been made for roads to go underground or on to flyovers to remove them from pedestrians.
The concept of 'Retail Circuits' has been shown in American studies to promote 'Looking' but not 'Spending' Southend needs a retail environment where people spend not look.
People who shop carry bags, and prefer to put them in their vehicles to continue shopping or indulging in other leisure activities. Very poor provision has been made for car parking close to new retail shops.
Park and ride has been shown only to work in Historic Town where visitors are not doing any major shopping. If we use the Brighton example given by RSL we note that the shopkeepers were forced to provide free delivery of goods purchased in the High Street because people were reluctant to carry major purchases on and off public transport. On the same point a family visiting the beach would have at least one buggy and a variety of bags, to move them and a tired family on and off public transport would be a major undertaking and not a pleasant one.
The Seaway Carpark takes four hours to fill on a sunny Sunday afternoon and half an hour to empty in the evening. To move a mixed population of the young, the elderly and families at peak times will cause delays and would not be an experience that many people would want to repeat.
Herbert Grove residents believe that current plan based on the RSL proposals would ruin, rather than enhance the environment.

Herbert Grove Residents believe that the current plan will not deliver a fine 'City by the Sea'
Southend needs a plan for the future to be Futuristic not based on architecture from the sixties and ideas from the fifties.

Why not allow the maket to decide on the use?
The Council policy to object to the new developments in this area has created a wasteland.

Why not allow the maket to decide on the use?
The Council policy to object to the new developments in this area has created a wasteland.

Herbert Grove Residents believe that this development is an issue for the local people.