Object
Southend Central Area Action Plan (SCAAP) - Revised Proposed Submission 2016
Representation ID: 2848
Received: 15/12/2016
Respondent: Stockvale Group
Agent: Stockvale Group
Legally compliant? Yes
Sound? No
Paragraph states that "collectively the car parks located in Southend Central Area have the potential to serve both the Town Centre and Central Seafront, facilitating linked trips and increasing
the potential for associated shared spend". This is not correct. As appears to be acknowledged in the second part of this paragraph, the town centre car parks are not all well located to accommodate visitors to Southend who are visiting for the seafront area. These visitors would not find it attractive
to park in car parks in the town centre, particularly those north of the railway line. There will undoubtedly be an opportunity for linked trips, but the most important factor for those operating businesses is to ensure that the visitors are able to get to Southend and park conveniently for the seafront. Once these people are parked, then they will be able to use both the seafront and town centre, especially if routes between the two are improved.
We know that convenience of car parking spaces is a major factor in the attractiveness of Southend as a tourist destination. The survey of Adventure Island visitors undertaken by The Stockvale Group (set out in the accompanying RPS Technical Note) shows that this is a very important issue for visitors.
When asked how important parking and the journey to Southend is in making a decision to come back again (on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the highest importance), 10 was the category most
commonly provided by the 1,484 respondents, with 33% of respondents giving 10, and 65.03%
scoring this issue 8, 9 or 10. This cannot be underestimated. As stated in our representations to paragraph 58, return visits forms the basis of businesses such as Adventure Island, and they operate
in a very competitive environment. If visitors cannot get access to convenient car parks they may choose not to return to Southend. The tourism economy of the town relies on these day visitors, and a reduction in availability or attractiveness of parking will potentially reduce visitor numbers, shorten season, reduce employment levels and ultimately will reduce the attractiveness of Southend seafront. It is essential that the Plan recognises why tourism-related traffic has to be considered differently to traffic associated with journeys to work, school and other regularly used destinations.
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.