R14 - William Hunter Way car park, Brentwood

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Object

Brentwood Local Plan 2016 - 2033 (Pre-Submission, Regulation 19)

Representation ID: 22208

Received: 05/03/2019

Respondent: Mr Matthew Vice

Legally compliant? Yes

Sound? No

Duty to co-operate? No

Representation Summary:

In summary, there is an extensive list of fundamental design issues with the current proposals which WILL have a negative impact on not only my property but the borough as a whole. Its clear that the Council have a brief to provide a certain number of residential units and they are looking to provide them without considering the blatantly obvious implications. Simply postponing these issues to the next stage is not acceptable as they need to be resolved prior to any further progress.

Change suggested by respondent:

1. The car parking provision needs to be resolved and the only way for this to be achieved is a below ground basement to house the car parking. The existing car park is full on most days and if the number of spaces is reduced this will have a detrimental effect on the town center.
2. The number of residential units is not appropriate given the already congested nature of the town center. The development should be dominated by commercial units to improve the high streets retail offering. This needs to include a cinema and restaurants to attract visitors from outside the town.
3. The height of the buildings should be reduced to lessen the impact on daylight for the existing buildings.

Full text:

Having been a resident on Western Road for over 4 years there has been limited community engagement which hasn't highlighted the scale of the proposed William Hunter way development to light. Although I am not against the existing car park being developed upon, I am against the current proposal for the site due to the following issues:
a. I've lived in Brentwood my whole life (29 years) and there has been a steady decline in the areas affluence and retail offering. This is clearly evident if you walk along the high street today and something needs to be done in order to improve this. For many years, there was a proposal to construct a commercial development on the William Hunter Way carpark which included various new shops and a cinema which would draw people into the borough rather than them travelling to Romford or Basildon. It would seem that the Councils latest proposal is to pack as many residential units into the site without any due regard to the high streets overall success. How is the Council proposing to regenerate the high street once they've built on every car park and piece of surrounding land?
b. Can you Council explain why there has been very little community engagement given the implications that this proposal has on the town center? A small quantity of 3 hour drop in sessions is not sufficient as the vast majority of local residents don't even know about this proposal.
c. After sifting through the plethora of documents upon the councils portal, I discovered a transport assessment produced by "Project Center / Peter Brett Associates" that clearly states that an additional 500 - 2500 car parking spaces may be needed to support the town center and new residents. The council is also proposing to develop on a number of other car parks around the high street so how are these projected car parking levels going to be achieved? By providing additional residential units, the car parking situation and traffic will worsen and adversely effect the town center footfall and retail customers. Page 51 of the "Design Guide" states that "Ensure any parking is well designed and integrated into the public realm proposals and reprovide an appropriate quantum of parking subject to parking surveys and local need." These parking surveys have already been undertaken and they determined that there was insufficient parking and this scheme proposed to reduce this further. Can the Council explain how the car parking provision is to be increased to meet the current and future demand?
d. It's clearly evident that the lions share of the proposed developments are concentrated around Brentwood rather than Shenfield or Hutton which have far more development opportunities. Both Shenfield and Hutton have good if not better transport links than Brentwood so can the Council please explain their logic behind this decision?
e. My property will face the proposed development and my South/East facing garden will be severely overlooked by terraces and balconies. My Right to Light will also be effected with the majority of the winter sun blocked by the 3 - 10 story residential towers. The latest report states on Page 50 that "All new development should: Respect the scale, proportions and style of adjacent buildings" and the current proposals clearly violate these crucial items.

Support

Brentwood Local Plan 2016 - 2033 (Pre-Submission, Regulation 19)

Representation ID: 22593

Received: 19/03/2019

Respondent: Mr Sasha Millwood

Representation Summary:

The density of this site could be made much higher, given the town centre location. Blocks of flats would be preferable to hosues.

Full text:

The density of this site could be made much higher, given the town centre location. Blocks of flats would be preferable to hosues.