Flats plans protest (From Echo)

Flats plans protest

1:27pm Wednesday 18th July 2007 in News By Jon Austin

CAMPAIGNERS fear Wickford will soon be overrun with flats without the roads, schools and GP surgeries to cope.

Residents are stepping up a campaign to limit the number of homes being built in the town after the latest housing proposals emerged.

Developers want to transform the former Essex Park garage, on the A132 Golden Jubilee Way, into 87 flats.

The landmark, near the junction with London Road, would be demolished to make way for three three-storey blocks of 26 one-bed and 61 two-bed homes with car parking.

Wickford Action Group, which was formed to fight over-development, fears it is just the latest in a string of applications for new homes or shops, with no provisons for new public services.

Alan Ball, group chairman, said: "Wickford is already bursting at the seams. It's a developers' goldmine. We need doctors, school places, community centres, car parking and improvements to roads, infrastructure and public transport.

"But we are just getting application after application for flats.

"Some of them are five or six storeys high and it is not what people want."

Under the £100million Wickford masterplan, residents were promised Continental-style tree lined streets, town squares surrounded by cafes, an improved railway station with bus and taxi ranks, a new swimming pool, community centre and medical centre.

But Mr Ball added: "We have not seen any of this.."

Tomorrow the council's cabinet is expected to agree to advertise for a masterplan development partner across Europe.

Mr Buckley said: "There can be no regeneration without house building. A planning application for the swimming pool and health centre is imminent after being altered.

"The council is now seeking a development partner to deliver the Wickford masterplan. This sort of development cannot happen overnight and needs investment from the private sector and house building and we need to develop in town centres to protect the green belt."

However, some residents do support the town centre development. Peter Boynes, of Wickford North Green Action Group, which formed to stop the mass development of the Barn Hall fields, off Station Avenue, believes homes need to go somewhere.

He is worried that if they don't go in the town centre, they could be built at the popular park.

The developer of the latest flats plan - Robert Mulholland And Company - has also promised to improve footpaths and cycle lanes.

The application states: "The proposal will provide a high-quality redevelopment and quality accommodation in a prominent location."