brentwood.gov.uk

These are my comments to the Draft Council Planning document.

* Use of Car Parks to develop

My main concern is that it would appear wherever there is a council owned car park, it is proposed to convert these into dwellings. This includes the car parks in Westbury Road, Chatham Way and William Hunter Way.

Where are the current users of these car parks to park? There is nowhere near the centre of Brentwood for people to park. This reduces significantly the attraction for visitors and shoppers and workers.

The Brentwood Council car park should also be included in these plans. If you are to build on most car parks, why not build on the main council car park too.

* Use of existing empty shop units

There are a number of empty shopping units in Brentwood. I counted over 20 empty and there is a very high percentage of empty units in the BayTree centre.
These units should be considered first before building new units to supply the niche shopping towards the vision.

* Cycle Paths

Brentwood still does not have a dedicated cycle route or markings along the main route towards London. If you are to encourage cycling and reduce the vehicle road use, you need to have purpose built paths and markings.
There are road markings and dedicated cycle paths from the M25 into central London. The paths/markings stop abruptly at the M25 towards Brentwood.

* Westbury Road Car Park and St Charles Napier Pub Land

I note that there are dwellings planned for Westbury Road car park. The surrounding Victorian houses have been affected by flooding in the past. This needs to be considered when building new properties.
What is to happen to the land where the St Charles Napier Pub once stood. This is unsightly and needs developing.

* Cinema

The best place to build a cinema complex for Brentwood is at the Brentwood Leisure Centre. There is already ample parking there. This would avoid building at the William Hunter Way car park. So the town centre would avoid the vehicle traffic from cinema goers.