Southend's planning disasters

From the archive, first published Sunday 29th Apr 2007.

A SOUTHEND councillor says terrible planning decisions have been made in the town, which should not be repeated.

David Norman says bad judgments have left the borough littered with houses "looking like garden sheds." He called upon his colleagues to make sure the development of services kept up with the boom in new housing.

Mr Norman, (Lab, Victoria), told a full council meeting: "I think we recognise we have made some terrible planning mistakes in the past few years.

"The impact has been very serious because we haven't taken a long-term view. All of us in the chamber are guilty of allowing overdevelopment."

He identified mistakes in West Road, Shoebury, and some developments in Southend "which resemble outside garden sheds".

Mr Norman also said infrastructure should be a priority, as the council should ensure there were enough public services to support any development.

He said: "The developers' interest is to put the maximum number of units into the simplest functional building.

"Our responsibility as the council is the interest of the community in the short-term and the longer-term."

Martin Terry (Ind, Westborough) agreed "given the fact 89 per cent of new builds are one and two-bed flats." He added: "There have been 2,500 flats built in Southend since 2000/01 and Southend is well ahead of its target."