Object
Southend Central Area Action Plan (SCAAP) - Revised Proposed Submission 2016
Representation ID: 2884
Received: 16/12/2016
Respondent: Southend BID
Legally compliant? Not specified
Sound? No
Members of the BID have raised considerable concerns as to the validity of the evidence in the form of the Car Parking Study produced by Steer Davies Gleave for SBC. The CPS helped formed the transport and access policy DS5.
The parking report and surveys have underestimated the parking capacity, particularly in the central area to the south of railway, and thus have underestimated the demand for spaces
from visitors to the seafront. The surveys have been predominantly focused on the High Street and on bad weather days thus the parking situation & demand to the south of the railway line has been misrepresented. The southern area has been identified as the area which experiences the greatest pressure on its parking supply. The report relies heavily on data from the VMS system which is inaccurate and unreliable. Therefore the report cannot
be relied upon and thus the related policy within the SCAAP, DS5 is flawed.
The policy as it stands will result in an inefficient transport network in and around the SCAAP area, with a severe shortage of parking capacity to the south resulting in heavy congestion at busy periods, clogging up the road network across the whole of Southend.
The CPS makes reference to car parking studies carried out on 6 dates over 2015 and 2016. SBC consulted the BID board of directors in February 2016 as to when the BID thought the surveys should be carried out to best give an indication of how the parking network performs in busy periods. The recommendations from the BID were that the council should not conduct any surveys at Easter and should concentrate surveys on hot sunny weekends during July and August. Following on from this advice SBC conducted surveys at Easter and one in May but none in July or August 2016!
The dates the surveys were done on experienced poor weather conditions, and thus the high street and seafront were not busy. Thus the surveys do not show how the network copes at peak busy times, ie when the sun is out and it is warm. Table 3.2 page 16 of survey report shows weather conditions on the survey days. The weather conditions were not published in any earlier version of the dpd. The BID contests the weather conditions published by SDG in the CPS. Weather conditions on these dates were not as described in the CPS, but were far worse.
We attach representation form re the SCAAP. The enclosed form is submitted by us as members of Southend BID whose details and address are included in Part A of the form. However all communications should be with or sent to us at the telephone numbers and email addresses shown in Part A or by post to:
Paul Thompson, Alan Bacon
This representation is made on behalf of members of The Southend BID. The BID is comprised of 378 levy paying members which comprises a wide range of businesses in sectors including retail, tourism, education and office based professional services to name a few. The BID zone in broad terms is made up of businesses within the High Street and its surrounding side streets together with the main tourist part of the seafront. The BID zone falls within the Southend Central Area and thus its members make up the majority of businesses within the SCAAP area. The BID was established 4 years ago following a ballot of the 378 businesses that now comprise the levy payers.
Through the BID a number of representations have been made following the BID's own consultation on a range of issues. The BID appointed SK Architects Ltd to make a formal representation as part of an earlier consultation by Southend Council on its SCAAP. SK Architects attended the council's consultation workshop and as the 2 sessions were poorly advertised the attendance by businesses was low. SK Architects then undertook its own consultation on behalf of the BID and produced a consultation form based on the key themes and opportunity sites highlighted in the SCAAP. The consultation responses helped form the 35 page document that SK prepared and which the BID submitted to SBC in February as it's formal representation to the SCAAP. (submission document attached)
Following on from the publication of the final version of the SCAAP the BID board of directors decided that certain parts of it's representation had been ignored by SBC and feel that sections of the dpd would threaten the economic viability of businesses within the scaap area. It was agreed by the board to make this further formal representation to the public consultation process prior to the oral examination with the government inspector.