Rayleigh Town Centre Is Next

November

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by admin // in Consultations, Rayleigh

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We had the following message from onlinefocus regular ST1 today:

Did anyone see this item in the Echo, relating to development ideas for Rayleigh town centre? Is this some kind of formal request for suggestions, and if so, how do they intend communicating it with the residents?

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4708040.What_ideas_have_you_got_for_town_centre_/

The answer is yes, we saw it.

What’s happening is that, just like Hockley and Rochford, the District Council will be carrying out a consultation on how to improve Rayleigh Town Centre soon. We will be wriying more when it appears on the council website, possibly in a few days time.

We very much hope that our readers will respond to the consultation when it starts- the document is quite long but pretty thoughtful ,and is worth looking at.

The Town Centre study in Hockley has caused a great deal of strife – we hope Rayleigh’s one goes more smoothly because:

  • Most people who care about Hockley seem to want to keep things as they are. Most people who care about Rayleigh Town Centre think there’s room for improvement – we have some ugly buildings left over from the sixties, for example.
  • There’s not a big housing proposal included, unlike Hockley.
  • In their report the consultants point out what they think’s wrong with Rayleigh – for example, the ugliness of some of the buildings along Websters Way. They then suggest possible improvements – starting off at the small level of minor cosmetic improvements and then working upwards to major stuff. They DON’T give you a masterplan and say ‘like it or lump it’. In fact it’s very much a mix or match – you could say for example that you might want only minor cosmetic changes in one part of the town centre, but have major changes in another place. Or you might want only minor or no changes everywhere.

    • By the way, this study was at Chris Black’s suggestion – the Council originally planned to do studies for Hockley and Rochford only. But Chris didn’t think Rayleigh should be ignored for the next 10 years, there were government funds available to pay for the consultants, and Terry Cutmore the Conservative leader readily agreed.

    And the article in the Echo refers to ideas from the Chamber of Trade – not the council consultants.

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    About the author, admin

  • Chris, you have made some interesting comparisons with Hockley. Another one is the way RDC have approached these action plans.

    From your description, it seems Rayleigh has been given a number of fundamental options, in a similar way to Rochford, whereas Hockley has only ever been given 6 masterplans ranging from 60-90% redevelopment of the village centre. Such choice!

    Why has Hockley been treated so very differently to Rayleigh and Rochford? May be RDC have learnt lessons and Hockley should go back to stage one?

    The Core Strategy and HAAP also mispresent the situation. The CS says “The Retail & Leisure Study indicates Hockley has great potential”. The study actually says “Hockley does not lend itself to classification as a ’town centre’ ” and “we recommend that focus be maintained on developing Hockley’s
    existing strengths, rather than retail expansion”

    Hockley certainly needs revitalisation and we hope RDC will recognise the two separate polls rejecting their proposals with 95% majorities. Hockley would like to be treated the same as Rayleigh and Rochford and given the chance to find appropriate solutions. Good luck to Rayleigh with your Action Plan.

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