Hush-hush decision to sell shops and hall

2:00pm Thursday 31st July 2008

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A COUNCIL-OWNED parade of shops and a community hall is set to be sold off and the site redeveloped,the Echo can reveal.

Earlier this week, we published details of 270 sites on a list of possible development sites being considered by Basildon Council.

Some 58 of the sites were suggested by the council itself – including the five shops and community hall at Park Lodge shopping parade, in Nevendon Road, Wickford.

All the sites are supposed to be examined over the next 18 months to see if they are suitable for inclusion in the document, which will guide development in the district up to 2015.

The council has been stressing firm decisions have yet to be made about sites.

But the Echo has learned the council has already agreed to sell the Park Lodge site to a developer.

At a behind-closed-doors cabinet meeting, councillors voted to sell the site for regeneration.

Tory council leader Malcolm Buckley confirmed the decision, describing the site as an ideal regeneration opportunity – even though it lies outside the area covered by the Wickford Masterplan.

He said: “We have agreed the principle of developing the land, including the reprovision of the shops in a mixed-use development.

“No developer has agreed, but there is interest and the potential for the area to be improved.”

He admitted it was unlikely the community hall would be replaced.

Alan Ball, chairman of Wickford Action Group, which has been fighting to limit the number of flats being built, is angry at the lack of consultation.

He said: “No wonder this was vote was taken in private and not published in advance.

“I think it might have met with some resistance.

“There has been no consultation and this raises questions. We want to know, if the shops will be the same size and how many flats will be built.”