Public Meeting 27 September 2007

The second public meeting was again well attended, below are some of the guests. 

Councillors Buckley, Ball, Horgan and Jackaman did not attend, despite having 6 weeks notice, they had 'more important' things to do, and who can blame them after the mauling they received from the people of Wickford at our last meeting in March. We thank the one Wickford councillor who did come, Micheal Mowe, who listened to what we said about the councillors incompetence, and what the people had to say about the council's Masterplan.

Read the article in the Echo 1st October and Gazette on 3rd

Unanimous - 140 hands go up as the meeting takes a vote on a motion opposing the council Masterplan 
Photo JON AUSTIN, Echo

The speakers were: left to right:
John Rushton 'The councillors have let us down' Derek Paffett 'Developers and their friends' David Harrison Meeting Chairman Alan Ball, WAG Chairman 'Recent developments and update' Derek Harrison 'Basildon S106 not fit for purpose'

The main points made by the four speakers at the start of the meeting.

• We emphasised that the basic stance of the Wickford Action Group is that we DO want to see our town centre regenerated, and we DO want to see more housing in the town, but the Masterplan is just too much, and the high rise blocks of flats are absolutely NOT WANTED.
  
  

• Alan Ball gave an update on some recent planning applications, and how the total number of flats proposed for the town centre under the Masteplan has risen from 490 in the original plan put to the people, to somewhere around 722.
  
  

• The fateful council meeting on 16 February 2006 was where the people of Wickford were cheated by their elected councillors!
  This is what happened at that meeting:

  • The Masterplan which was exhibited to the populace 2 months earlier, was changed by revising the number of new flats from 490 to 585.

  • The views of the people which had been collected at the earlier exhibition (ie the first Masterplan) were analysed and the 'recurring themes' of too many flats, and resistance to multi storeys, were ignored. The meeting concluded that, developments of 5 and 6 storeys in height would be reasonable in the town centre.

  • The 'Cabinet' then approved the (revised) Masterplan, and this is why we believe that the councillors have let us down, and that we can't trust them anymore - they ignored our views, and decided to do the opposite!
    
    

• Specific examples of Basildon Councillors incompetence and lack of correct procedural processes were described. This included the dealings around the Riverside Place development, and the roles of the various players, from developers, councillors, designers and selling agents by revealing some of the emails and documents available to us under the freedom of information act. 
  
  

• The council's lack of a section 106 planning policy means that building applications are often passed without appropriate improvements to support services such as parking provision, school places, roads, healthcare facilities etc. This means that these services will either become even more stretched, or paid for separately, in other words by you and me out of our council tax! This is in contrast to our neighbour Chelmsford Council, who have a robust S106 policy, and some specific examples were read out.

NOW do you realise what is happening to our town?

Some points from the audience.
Many of the above points were also raised the residents, who confirmed the views of the group.

• What proportion of the proposed flats will be social housing? 
  No one could give an answer, although in most of the planning applications so far, they are described as 'luxury flats', and are being aggressively promoted by the local estate agents as but-to-let, so the answer is probably 'not many'

• The traffic problems at peak times is already out of control - surely this should be sorted first before ANY flats are built

• A local shopkeeper pointed out that the decline of the town is in great part due to the parking problems, and although new flats implies more customers, this will in fact make parking problems worse.

• When the bypass was built, and the new A130, it was promised that lorries would be discouraged from using the A132 through Wickford, but they are still coming.
  Councillor Mowe said this was an Essex CC issue (which is correct - but doesn't answer the question)

• Many points were raised regarding the closure of the pool for 18 months, contrary to what was in the Masterplan, and how it would be a great problem for the elderly, disabled groups, local schools, and just about everyone who swims in Wickford. One person said the council's brochure should read 'Wickford Destroyed' instead of 'Wickford Reborn'
  (The chairman held up the council's response form for the exhibition which was taking place this week - with just one question about the 3 phase plan for this section of town. He reminded us that a similar questionnaire was miss-used by the council in order to claim that the Masterplan was supported by residents, so we simply don't trust the council to act on resident's wishes. Especially since the pool part of the exhibition is only an 'outline' application, and once phase 1 is approved, phases 2 and 3 could be markedly different - as they have done to us before!)

• Why are we getting blocks of flats? This is not the way forward for small towns, as has been proven in many areas over the past decade, even in London boroughs, and they are being ripped down and replaced with low level terraces.  

• The council seems to have already made decisions on these issues, and does not want residents views if they are in opposition

• What can we do? If all of these blocks of flats are now approved, isn't it too late?
  It is too late to stop these, but we believe we can influence the planners before the town is completely wrecked. These meetings are a reminder to councillors that there is a very strong feeling in the town against too much development. There are also council elections, and last year we got almost one third of the votes - which gave a shock to the ruling council, and has resulted in panic press announcements trying to rubbish our attempts to publicise their shortcomings. 

• If anyone has any specific suggestions or ideas on what should be done to improve and regenerate Wickford, we will pass these on to the council, where councillors Ball and Horgan have promised to give them serious consideration. 

• A motion was proposed that 'We are against what is happening in Wickford under the Masterplan', and this was supported unanimously, with no votes against, and one abstention. This was reported in the Echo on 1st October and Gazette on 3rd, and rubbished by council leader Malcolm Buckley, who is quoted as saying 'Resistance is futile'