£60,000 to keep stores open after Castle Point consultation

5:30pm Monday 27th February 2012 in Castle Point By Jacqueline McMillan

A COUNCIL is spending £60,000 keeping open two shops where plans are displayed for Canvey and Hadleigh’s future blueprints, despite public consultations being finished.

Castle Point Council is spending the cash to keep open its Canvey and Hadleigh regeneration shops for another year.

The Canvey shop, based in the Knightswick Centre, in Furtherwick Road, will now stay open for its third consecutive year.

When it opened in 2009, it revealed details of the £100million Canvey masterplan and shoppers were asked for their verdict.

But no plans have yet got off the drawing board.

Dave Blackwell, leader of the Canvey Independent Party, said: “This is the biggest waste of money. I stood in the town centre for over an hour talking to residents the other day, and not a single person went in there. You could sit there all day and it would be the same.

“I don’t know how you can quantify throwing all that money away to keep it open for another year, when it could be better spent actually putting some life back into the town.

“The consultation is finished, there is no point to it, but the whole plan seems to be falling apart at the seams.”

Members of Castle Point Council’s special policy development group are in the process of agreeing the finishing touches to the masterplan, and deciding whether or not to recommend it be formally adopted by the cabinet as the planning strategy for Canvey town centre.

It has previously included proposals to revive run-down shops, create tree-lined public pathways, add better links between the town centre and Canvey Lake, and introduce two-way traffic and on-street parking in the town centre.

The £60,000 includes the cost of keeping the Hadleigh regeneration shop in place in the High Street for a second year.

The £60million Hadleigh regeneration includes plans to possibly transform the Crown pub, in High Street, into an arthouse cinema, to improve frontages of shops, create a space for a market and expand the Morrison’s supermarket, which was officially opened to the public last month.

A spokesman from the council said: “Formal consultation by the Castle Point Regeneration Partnership on both masterplans has closed.

“However, both regeneration shops remain open and residents are welcome to call in to see the masterplans and comment.

“Should the Hadleigh masterplan be approved, it will be subject to a separate public planning consultation by the council.

“The consultation has already been completed on the Canvey masterplan.”

Comments (3)

5:50pm Mon 27 Feb 12

Biffo-bear says...

Total waste of time and money, most people don't even know the shop is there, tucked round the backside of Hadleigh with no parking. Bet most of the people who have been in there are from Homestead etc cos they're the only ones for whom it is convenient. If the Council was serious about this they would have got an empty shop in the main town centre, not where it is.
Total waste of time and money, most people don't even know the shop is there, tucked round the backside of Hadleigh with no parking. Bet most of the people who have been in there are from Homestead etc cos they're the only ones for whom it is convenient. If the Council was serious about this they would have got an empty shop in the main town centre, not where it is. Biffo-bear

7:26pm Mon 27 Feb 12

John T Pharro says...

The one on Canvey is in the High Street, but doesn't stop this being a waste of money. They could just have easily used the Town Council Office opposite, but wasting money is about the only thing Castle Point Council are good at.
Don't forget the already wasted £500,000 on the previous core strategy plan because Castle Point Council wanted to build 1000's of new flats (I doubt if they would be houses) on green belt on Canvey only and the Government Inspector rightly threw the plan out as unfair to Canvey. Add to that overcharging on the licences to the Taxi drivers and double charging on rubbish collection from flats doesn't sound much to me like a Council crowing in tonight's "Echo" they are good at saving money.
The one on Canvey is in the High Street, but doesn't stop this being a waste of money. They could just have easily used the Town Council Office opposite, but wasting money is about the only thing Castle Point Council are good at. Don't forget the already wasted £500,000 on the previous core strategy plan because Castle Point Council wanted to build 1000's of new flats (I doubt if they would be houses) on green belt on Canvey only and the Government Inspector rightly threw the plan out as unfair to Canvey. Add to that overcharging on the licences to the Taxi drivers and double charging on rubbish collection from flats doesn't sound much to me like a Council crowing in tonight's "Echo" they are good at saving money. John T Pharro

8:59pm Mon 27 Feb 12

froggle says...

Absolute joke! All the people who have lost their jobs within the council in the last year and they are wasting money on this! It's a disgrace.
Absolute joke! All the people who have lost their jobs within the council in the last year and they are wasting money on this! It's a disgrace. froggle

Comments are closed on this article.

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