1. It would appear that the Council has allocated a number of its Car parks, as land suitable for building dwellings. This includes the car parks in Westbury Road, Chatham Way and William Hunter Way. This creates two problems:
a) In fill like this does not provide an attractive environment - either for the new residents or existing residents.
b) There does not seem to be clear provision of new/alternative car parking to replace the lost spaces. Where are visitors/shoppers supposed to park? Where do workers park, long-stay? Its difficult enough now.
2. Section 8 discusses that the town apparently requires more retail units and section 5.74 states that the existing vacant units are not sufficient to provide for the requirement.
There are currently at least 20 empty units in the High Street, Bay Tree Centre, Kings Road and Chapel Ruins area. Why can these not be filled first? Can these be adapted for use by retailers, with their advance agreement, so that shopping in Brentwood is an attractive proposition.
3. The consultation for the semi-pedestrianisation of the High Street was largely ignored by the Council, who appeared determined to press ahead regardless of public opinion. The subsequent decision to re-surface the High Street has been an expensive disaster. The road needs extensive, expensive repairs and although its appearance is pleasing, it was not necessary. Please do not make the same mistake of ignoring public opinion.
4. Regarding a cinema - something that has been promised for the last 15+ years. I still don't understand why this cannot be at the Brentwood Sports and Leisure Centre where there is the space for a new building, and the parking that would be needed. I have been told that one concern is "already congested roads" but I don't agree that the roads are congested towards the Brentwood Centre. In fact, if the cinema were built in William Hunter Way, the increased traffic in William Hunter Way, Western Avenue and Weald Road, including the crossroads junctions with the High Street would be worse.
5. What is happening with the space that has been boarded up since the demolition of the Grade 11 listed building that was the Sir Charles Napier pub? It is very ugly at the moment, and a waste of development space that is sorely needed.


* Brentwood needs some open spaces and to retain its Victorian market town feel. The little "green area" in Kings Road makes such a difference and more like this would be very welcome.
* I was told a few years ago that there was a waiting list for long-term parking annual permits: a friend asked to park on my drive because he couldn't park in Brentwood while he worked. Also, I know one retailer who received £3,000 worth of parking fines for parking his work van at the back of his shop, because he could no longer get a parking permit for a local car park. He has since closed the shop in Brentwood High Street.
* The Council removed the small free parking bay at the end of the High Street, which allowed for 30 minutes of shopping - very appropriate for the types of shops directly next to this bay. A number of these have now shut - the shoe repairers, the florist, the fruit and veg shop etc which were independent shops. The Council claims to encourage these in section 8.37.
* Brentwood is too expensive and not an attractive enough shopping area with its difficult-to-find and very expensive when-you-do-find-it parking. If I needed to drive to shops, I would drive to Upminster which has lovely shops, a choice of supermarkets and cheap, available parking. Or, I would drive further afield for a much wider choice of niche shops, for example to Tunbridge Wells, or Cambridge.
* I haven't counted the empty units apart from in Central Brentwood (Warley Hill, for example). Why can these not be filled before considering building others? S. 8.37 refers to Brentwood Town Centre attracting many visitors for a variety of reasons including a high quality shopping environment. The current empty units are unattractive, and the choices of retailers who have recently taken some of the larger spaces are not conducive to an interesting and up-market shopping experience. And if, as per s. 8.56 the Council "seeks to retain existing large retail units as they can be a major driver of footfall" why did it allow The Dairyman and Wildwood to take the larger retail sites when they became vacant?
* Re. resurfacing the High street : Not only did this close the High Street for nearly a year causing major sales problems for many retailers, but it also means that you cannot cycle in the High Street, and nor can there be the annual Cycle Race that used to occur.
* Re. the Cinema: I have been told that one concern is "already congested roads" but I don't agree that the roads are congested towards the Brentwood Centre. In fact, if the cinema were built in William Hunter Way, the increased traffic in William Hunter Way, Western Avenue and Weald Road, including the crossroads junctions with the High Street would be worse.

I read with trepidation the Draft plan - partly because of content and partly because of the length. The sceptic in me wonders if perhaps the length of the report was actually designed to elicit a minimal response as it could easily have been condensed.

A key fact that the entire report seems to miss is that the town centre is at capacity. We have totally insufficient infracture to support the residents we have; never mind the many additions that are being proposed. Doctors surgeries and hospitals cannot deal with the patient numbers (you mention the residents are getting older - surely this will just put more stress on an overburdened system). The rail network is dangerously overcrowded at peak times. The quality of schooling suffering. The roads in chaos. If the question is " are the plans capable of being accommodated" the simple answer is "no".

In the 20 + years I have lived in Brentwood I have seen it deteriorate more and more. Rather than modelling the town on the local community feel of Ingatestone and Shenfield we seem to be mirroring Romford/Croydon. I have never known people in an affluent area be so hell bent on cheapening it! You mention residents "quality of life" being important to the plan but I have grave concerns that this is indeed the case - already the influx has lead to a feeling of less safe streets and general uneasiness in the town - those of us living in the area have paid our Council tax for many years but life is getting progressively worse in the borough.

Would it not be possible to concentrate on expansion in areas that can cope and perhaps even add schools and doctors surgeries to the plans being proposed??!!

Two particular sights you state for development are absurd (1) Westbury Road is already a danger - insufficient parking borough wide leads to people (including the disabled and those with pushchairs) walking in the road facing dangerously fast traffic. How could ANYONE think that more housing and less parking would help? (2) Honeypot Lane - have you tried to pass through there at any time of day?! How can potentially 500+ of extra residents fit into the area??


When your report mentions attracting business to the area I can only assume you mean yet more fast food outlets and bars - the terms "quality independent" and "wide range" really do not apply in Brentwood. Why would any firm that plans to do anything other than pay minimum wage, overburden a location already struggling with its policing and refuse collection, come to the area. If correctly modelled the transport links could suggest Brentwood as a possible hub for business in financial services and other mediums but the tired appearance, transport problems and simply overcrowding would surely put any sensible firm off. As would no doubt 84 pitches for travellers (surely if they need a pitch they aren't infact "travelling"?)

I would hope that any business you may manage to attract might be steered in the direction of the empty spaces in our high street but the plan seems keen to build more regardless of what stands empty.

While I could not find it specifically addressed in the plan I would be interested to learn the plans for Street lighting in Brentwood. Particularly given that the ordinary person struggles though pitch black roads and pavements while the police station's "stadium lighting" blinds residents of my road.



I apologise that this response is, in all, pretty negative. It is such a shame that a place as lovely as Brentwood used to be is where it is today. I can only hope that some of my concerns, shared as they are with many, can be addressed and that, one day, we are again an area I would be proud to live in.