Please Read This!
 
If you only have time to read one page, read this!

The Wickford Action Group is committed to fighting for preservation of a decent Wickford, and against plans to over-develop the town under the guise of regeneration:
  • Complacency is one of the reasons why ad-hoc development has been allowed to happen in Wickford, not just recently, but going back to the post war period, and not just by the council, but by residents and builders. 

    We in the Wickford Action Group just want to ensure that OUR children don't look back in years to come and wonder why WE didn't do something, so we are trying to raise awareness to the major changes now happening in our town by the Master Plan and the other developments creeping in by the back door.

  • We do want to see the town improved, and the regeneration of derelict sites is a great idea, but from the plans so far approved, we can't see how they will make things better, in fact it looks like they will get worse it terms of the support infrastructure!
    • bus services are not adequate
    • trains are already packed at rush hour times
    • the roads into and out of Wickford are gridlocked during peak times
    • more doctors and dentists are needed even now
    • poor range of shops (except nail bars, second hand shops and estate agents)
    • insufficient public parking at a reasonable price, leading to anti-social parking in high street, with poor or non-existent policing.

  • The Wickford Town Centre Master Plan was approved at a Council Cabinet meeting on 16 February 2006. (You can download the key 7 page document from the council website on this link)
    Four points from this meeting:
    • The Master Plan which had been put to the public was now amended at this meeting, two of the changes being an increase in the Riverside Living developments, one from 84 to 173 flats, the other from 35 town houses to 84 flats (both of these to fit in with development applications just submitted by the mysterious Butie Limited, and Councillor Ray Ride's Bradgate Developments)
    • The public's 684 responses to the consultation were analysed, 'which showed a number of recurring themes, ... too much residential development was proposed, resistance to multi storey development...although two thirds are largely in support of the Master Plan...'
    • Two of the conclusions from the summary report was "The development of relatively high rise buildings would provide more of a sense of place and identity than that currently existing, and act as a focus for the whole of the town." and "developments of 5 to 6 storeys in height would be reasonable in the town centre"
      So, the tall buildings are not a result of developers doing their own thing, against the council's wishes, as some councillors for regeneration would have us believe; it is part of the council's strategy, and NOT what the residents want or responded to!
    • The meeting then approved the Master Plan by 8 votes to 1

    We regard this as an abuse of power and responsibility; why ask the public if you are then going to do the exact opposite in terms of high rise buildings? Is it any wonder that we don't trust our councillors?

  • The main justification for the Master Plan is that all the (650) new homes are needed to pay for the regeneration of the town. But what improvements will be provided by the 5 storey block approved for 3-31 Runwell Road for example? It will be a hideous blot on the landscape, yet the only Wickford councillor on the panel, Mrs. Sylvia Buckley, wife of Council Leader Malcolm Buckley, himself an aggressive promoter of the Master Plan, voted FOR a high rise block on this site!

  • Why is the developer of 'Runwell Towers', 3-31 Runwell Road, anonymous? Butie Limited are registered in the British Virgin Islands, the one registration authority that does not require the directors to be named. Who are they? terrorists? money laundering drug traffickers? or just friends of councillors? We don't believe that of course, but who knows, and why the secrecy, what have they got to hide, how was an anonymous company even allowed to bid, and are we being put at risk?  

  • And what about the green belt?
    Two of the developments in the pipeline are on 'green belt' land, at Barn Hall (not actually green belt), and Shotgate Farm, and once this is lost, it's gone for ever! Are we going to sit back and let it happen on our watch?
    The Barn Hall development is likely to be turned down by the council, but it has already gone to appeal to the Secretary of State for Communities, and with the present government's emphasis on ever more housing, we don't hold out much hope that it will prevent it happening! The Shotgate Farm plan is for football pitches and a pavilion, but now that this section is lost, the adjacent plot will inevitably follow.

  • We are fed up when cheaper housing is being bought up by 'buy to let' profiteers, thus denying our own children affordable housing.

  • We could go on - but if you have time, read what others have to say in the Comments section - add your piece....
Last changed: November 28, 2008 copyright © jrc-websites.co.uk

 

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