Object

Representation ID: 2812

Received: 13/12/2016

Respondent: Southend Seafront Traders Association

Legally compliant? Not specified

Sound? Not specified

NOT POSITIVELY PREPARED
It is essential that the Transport Access and Public realm section recognises the need for tourists to be able to access the town and seafront by car. A survey carried out by Stockvale and the Seafront Traders Association has identified that 85% of tourists (out of 1500 surveyed) come by car.
Southend has built up its reputation over the last 100 years as a resort popular for family day trips,
with many visitors coming from the Thames gateway area, London, Essex and Kent. For families, the easiest, convenient and most cost effective mode of transport to visit Southend is the car. Sustainable modes of transport are often too impractical for family visits to Southend seaside. As car ownership has increased considerably over the last 20 years the importance of the car to the local tourist economy is vital. The scaap and the CPS fail to recognise this and its importance to the viability of the tourist industry in Southend. The implementation of the points listed above under no.1 will be at the cost of the car. Bus & cycle lanes etc will increase journey times into the SCAAP area by car and result in more congestion. This will deter tourists from visiting Southend and result in cars turning around and going elsewhere as
the roads are so congested.
The policies under section 2 are not sufficient to deal with the current or future demand for car spaces, particularly to the south.
The CPS and Local Transport Plan3 highlight the council's estimated 25% increase in demand for parking spaces in the SCAAP area in the next 4 years. The SCAAP and the measures above do
nothing to address the capacity shortages this extra demand will create.
On busy days, warm sunny days, there is already a massive shortage of parking spaces and congestion results as cars are continually circulating looking for spaces. Visitors vow not to return as it can take hours to enter the town and get parked. Traffic jams back up along the A 127 and many cars turn around and go elsewhere.
This means on warm sunny days the seafront has reached it's maximium capacity as no more visitors can get here and parked by car. As a result investment by businesses will stop. Visitors often cancel bookings as they can't get into the town. Visitors opt to visit other resorts and use out of town shopping centres such as Lakeside and Bluewater.
The policies do not meet the development needs of businesses on the seafront and the infrastructure will be insufficient to meet future growth in demand. The CPS recognises that there
are already existing problems in the south on peak days but does nothing to deal with this.