£1million to kickstart Wickford regeneration
Adam Gaudry, Echo 29 March 2010

A REGENERATION project in Wickford, costing millions of pounds, is set to start this summer.
   Basildon Council has confirmed the £8.5million scheme to refurbish outdated shops and replace run-down homes, in Nevendon Road, is due to begin within the next few months.
   The project was stalled after the recession hit last year, but the council has now kick-started the scheme by pledging a £lmillion cash injection.
   The news will be a welcome boost to the town, after an announcement last month that a £100million building masterplan for Wickford town centre had collapsed.
   Under the plans for Nevendon Road, Lovell Homes will replace 26 maisonettes with new homes and the parade of shops will be modernised.
   Basildon Council leader Tony Ball said: I'm extremely pleased to be able to support and back our residents' calls for this scheme to go ahead. "I am looking forward to seeing the quality of housing and the shopping parade improve, which will raise the quality of life and benefit our residents, shoppers and local businesses."
   He said residents would be consulted on full details of the plans. Don Morris, chairman of the council's housing scrutiny committee, said the run-down shops were popular with residents and were due a makeover.
   But the fate of Park Lodge Community Hall, which was originally due to be scrapped as part of the plans, still hangs in the balance.
   Wickford Action Group and some residents have opposed the removal of the hall.
   Alan Ball, action group chairman and a member of community centre's committee, said: "We're obviously glad they are going to refurbish the shops. But we're against getting rid of the community centre.
   "They can't just keep building more and more homes, and ignore the infrastructure."
   He said the action group was eagerly waiting to hear more details of the scheme.

• Opposition - Alan Ball is against demolishion of the Park Lodge Community Hall
  "We're glad they will refurbish the shops. But they can't just keep building more and more homes and ignore the infrastructure"

IN PIPELINE SINCE 98
PLANS to upgrade shops and homes at Nevendon Road were first touted in 2008.
   Basildon Council made the decision to flatten the properties, witli a view to transforming the area.
   The 26 maisonettes set to be replaced are the same type seen on the Craylands Estate, in Basildon, which is currently undergoing a £247million redevelopment.
   Malcolm Buckley; councillor responsible for environment, said the council's long-term aim was to make the improvements and give people a brighter shopping area."
   However, the full plans have not yet been submitted to the council. Before the work on the new buildings begin later this year, developer Lovell Homes will have to seek formal approval, and residents will have to be consulted.
   The £1million being pumped into the scheme by Basildon Council has come from Section 106 agreements - money gleaned from private developers building property within the district.