Object
Southend Central Area Action Plan (SCAAP) - Revised Proposed Submission 2016
Representation ID: 2833
Received: 15/12/2016
Respondent: Stockvale Group
Agent: Stockvale Group
Legally compliant? Yes
Sound? No
Comments on first paragraph: It is essential that the 'Transport, Access and Public Realm' section recognises the need for car access to support Southend's tourism economy. The seafront attractions are serving a much wider catchment area than the town centre, and catering much more for families; therefore the private car is a much more important component for travel. The strategy needs to recognise the need to attract car-borne visitors and park them close to the seafront. There needs to be high quality, sustainable ways of getting visitors to the various attractions. Simply
"acknowledging the role the car plays in this balance" is not enough when creating policies to support an industry that is largely reliant on the private car. In our other representations we refer to
surveys that demonstrate the reliance of this industry on the private car, and the fact that this can be sustainable when car occupancy levels are considered. There needs to be a clear statement that in the Central Seafront Area, policies will aim to support the day visitor economy, and a key element of this is providing sufficient car parking spaces to enable this economy to thrive and prosper.
The second paragraph discusses the Central Area car parks and goes on to state: "It will be important to ensure that a level and quality of provision is provided that supports the vitality and viability of Southend Central Area." This statement needs to be far stronger, and should be looking for the protection of existing spaces that serve the seafront, the achievement of additional spaces to enable growth in tourism businesses, to support the significant new development proposed and the improvement of the quality of car parks and the routes from the car parks to the attractions. This is
because, unlike the Town Centre, the seafront area is less easy to access by public transport because of the origins of visitors (a large proportion from outside Southend) and the fact that these trips are family trips which are much more difficult to serve by public transport. A survey of visitors to
Adventure Island undertaken by The Stockvale Group in 2016 using Survey Monkey showed that out of 1,532 respondents only 137 (9%) of visitors originated from Southend and 1,295 of the 1,532 respondents (84.7%) travelled by car. The survey also showed that 30% of visitors had four passengers in the car and 29% had three passengers, demonstrating how difficult it is to serve this type of family visitor by public transport.
The third paragraph recognises that "there is a clear imbalance in the Southend Central Area parking
network at periods of peak demand, with car parking to the south of the central area experiencing over capacity issues, while car parking to the north has available spare capacity." This is a key issue and needs to be addressed and needs to be followed through in other policies. The 85% figure used in this paragraph is misleading as it relates to the entire SCAAP area. The seafront has significant capacity issues at peak times which are causing serious problems for operators and preventing growth
RPS has prepared the following representations to Southend Borough Council's Southend Central Area Action Plan (SCAAP), Revised Proposed Submission Version (November 2016) The following Headings represent Paragraphs or Policies contained within the SCAAP. These representations should be read in conjunction with the accompanying completed Representations Forms.
Our client operates the largest and most successful tourism businesses in Southend (The StockvaleGroup is the owner and operator of: Adventure Island theme park; Sealife Adventure; Three Shells beach café; Pavilion Fish and Chips; Feelgoods Pizza Pasta Restaurant; Sands Bistro restaurant; Adventure Inside and Radio Essex). We would like an opportunity to explain our client's business aspirations and explain why the policies in the Plan will not provide a firm basis for the growth of tourism in Southend, and indeed will have the opposite effect on tourism businesses to the objectives set out at the start of the SCAAP. It is very important to our client that the Inspector understands the consequences of adopting the SCAAP as currently drafted.