WITH 282 flats, fast food chains such as Nando’s and Pizza Express coming to the planned Marine Plaza development in Southend, as well as a cinema, restaurants and entertainment venues planned for the Seaway Car Park, the Echo asks if the seafront can cope with two massive developments being built at the same time?

YES
By Graham Longley
Councillor for enterprise, tourism and economic development

Echo:

THESE developments are clearly bringing exciting times to the town but we’re also quite clear that we have to be very careful when having such significant developments and, in many ways, Councillor Ware- Lane is right – but I would not have agreed to these plans if I wasn’t confident we could do that.

We have to be aware of what is happening and ensure the whole thing fits in with the surrounding area – and one of the most important things is that the character of the area is maintained as far as possible.

I personally wouldn’t want to turn Southend into a modern town as such, with everything brand new, as the properties and the infrastructure we have are good and, while such a significant investment is to be welcomed, we need to be careful that Southend doesn’t disappear into something it is not.

Of course, during construction, we are also going to be looking to keep disruption to an absolute minimum and we will be looking for assurances from developers that they will cause as little disruption as possible.

Again, we had to have had the confidence we could deliver on this or we wouldn’t be going ahead with the development in the first place.

I don’t necessarily disagree with councillor Julian Ware- Lane and he is quite right that we should make sure the people who live in the area are not disrupted and the infrastructure is not strained – but I would not be supporting this development if I didn’t think that could be achieved.

NO
By Julian Ware-Lane
Milton councillor, Labour

Echo:

I HAVE concerns over whether the Seaway car park is the right place for the proposed development. Notwithstanding these concerns, the simple answer as to whether a development here and at the Marine Plaza site undertaken at the same time is a good idea comes down to a matter of timing.

Doing both developments at the same time does have the benefit of getting all the disruption out of the way all in one go. While it could be argued that this maximises the pain and disruption whilst the works are being undertaken, the closeness of the two projects may also mean that some of the local improvements that will doubtless be required may be able to be shared.

Doing the work during the quiet periods of late autumn and winter should cause minimal interference to both trade and the lives of residents.

However, if the works overspill into the local high season then this has the potential to be disastrous for those businesses reliant on the increased footfall that occurs when the sun is out. This is why the timetable is so important.

There are questions, though, that need to be answered about the road infrastructure in the area, and whether it can cope with the extra traffic both whilst the sites are being developed, and once they are up and running.

There are a number of bottlenecks that already see congestion at busy times – this is why the site of the Seaway development is so questionable.

While I welcome anything that brings extra jobs and housing to the town, I cannot help but wonder why this is being squeezed into an already crowded area – surely a site adjacent to the A127 and Eastern Avenue corridor would be more accessible.