5.5 Encourage and promote further enhancements to the public realm, such as improved paving, seating, tree planting and landscaping. What do you think the priorities should be and where

More Green area should be added across the town

I have already seen some diabolical landscaping and ‘improved’ paving, such as the S-SHAPE paving installed down the high street in the early 2000’s, and the shared space areas. I am always happy to see real enhancements that improve the visual aesthetic and wellbeing, like planting trees. But too many of these projects in the past seem to be vanity projects or projects where funding has been secured and has to be spent within a finite timeframe and some poor choices have been made. Priorities should be the high street and the seafront (who thought putting palm trees on th seafront would be a good idea?)

Feel that town centre environment/ landscape should be themed culturally around the Thames Estuary to differentiate from Basildon, Chelmsford, Lakeside etc

Encourage more green tree planting etc.
Stop parking on pavements which makes it difficult for pedestrians especially old & disabled.
Reduce traffic on residential roads & slow traffic down.
Encourage walking and cycling.

Not sure

Strongly support this which adds to the overall experience of shopping in the High Street.

London Rd from High st to sainsbury's is a priority

Agree helps improve environment and behaviours

Westcliff needs investment

Who could argue with planting more trees? It makes for a calmer and more pleasant atmosphere - greening of all our spaces should be encouraged.

Green space and shading will be our defence against AQ, overheating, flooding and climate change. This must be the priority

Improved paving

Encourage more native tree planting to help offset the carbon emissions from increased usage. Also to soften building lines.

The conservation area is considered a very attractive part of Southend, extend the public realm principles from this area across the town centre.

Hi quality public realm is important to the vibrancy and appeal of an area. Enhancements in all our town centres will benefit the area and using soft landscaping to compliment paved areas. The link between Victoria Circus and the seafront should be a priority as should areas requiring regeneration such as Shoebury High street.

The priorities should be aligned to the zoning of the town centre (or whatever approach is preferred) and ensuring that the enhancements that take place take into account the need to enhance the greening of the town centre improve both the visual amenity (with the wider benefits that this brings) as well as climate change resilience, in respect of urban cooling to address higher temperatures and more intense rainfall.
Andrew Barnes and Elizabeth Georgeou - Green City 2050 outcome leads

Spatial Development
Option 3 is the preferred solution for spatial development. Densifying areas can lead to the use of mechanical ventilation systems to protect residents from noise, rather than the ability for residents to control their own environment. This approach allows for the building of mixed housing types to meet different needs, sustainable developments and in the required infrastructure to support additional housing.

Housing
Where permitted development of office blocks, plus conversions and extensions are being built the opportunity should be taken to having design criteria which will mitigate ventilation issues and noise transmission.

With respect to Contaminated Land the Council’s contaminated land strategy will seek to set out how the Council will identify contaminated land in the borough in a rational, ordered and efficient manner. Where contaminated land is identified, the Council is required to ensure that any associated risks to human health and/or to the wider environment are addressed in an appropriate and cost effective manner. It is good practice to undertake investigation of any proposed Local Plan allocations as a priority within this contaminated land investigation strategy. This is to ensure that no development gives rise to or triggers unacceptable levels of pollution and land instability that could impact on human health, property and the wider environment including environmental designations. The Council will ensure that consideration is given to adopting environmental best practice measures in all cases.

The presence of contamination may affect or restrict the use of land, but equally development may address the issue for the benefit of the wider community, and bring the land back into beneficial use. The presence of instability in land can also be a major planning issue, and when new development is proposed it will be necessary to ensure that new buildings and their surroundings are safe for future users as well as ensure that their development does not have an effect on the immediate and surrounding area including neighbouring uses. In determining whether land contamination or instability is an issue when assessing a planning application, the Council will have regard to a range of information sources including its database of past industrial and commercial land uses, information provided by developers and third parties, statutory guidance and historic maps. In the case of development, where the use would be particularly vulnerable to contamination evidence should always be required to establish whether there is any concern about contamination which will need to be addressed.

Where the Council supports the redevelopment of the poorest quality employment sites for other uses such as Housing, consideration needs to be given to the environmental impact on residents of all socio-economic groups. See comments above under 2.7 with respect to noise, ventilation and contaminated land.

Improvements may be required to the sewer / drainage capacity for new developments, particularly those around the seafront, including dealing with misconnections. Ensuring the sufficient of sewer / drainage capacity for new developments and targeting and support agencies with responsibility for misconnections will improve the water quality and the objective of promoting Southend as a major resort.

Support the enhancement of tree planning and landscaping to both improve the public realm and providing a greener and cooler community.
Support the improvement of all transport systems serving Southend will help to improve air quality and social mobility. Where improvements to the main A127 and A13 increases the number of lanes consideration will need to be given to mitigation for existing residents and new developments to reduce the impact of noise and vibration and reduced air quality.

The introduction of Park and Ride Schemes would encourage the use of public transport.
Consideration to be given to green energy solutions, such as energy networks and solar panels to meet the energy needs of new developments, and the retrofitting of existing developments.
Agree that working in partnership will help to deliver the required outcomes, consideration should also be given to increasing the CIL charges, set out in the infrastructure delivery plan that supports local plans.

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