These are very much initial and individual comments. As a local councilllor I want to be able to represent the views of my constituents to The Powers That Be. So I welcome your thoughts on the proposals that are before the Basildon community. To see the whole draft plan click on Town Centre Masterplan under the Blogroll menu on the right . Please use the facility on this website to make your comments. You can make your comments by clicking on the Your Views box  in the Get Involved menu (top right).

The Plan

The Basildon Town Centre Regeneration Master Plan is out, published to acclaim by the Echo, and about to enter its consultative phase in February. The thrust of the proposals – to re-invigorate the town centre by promoting mixed residential, retail, commercial and leisure use – remains much the same as the plans unveiled in February 2006; with one or two spectacular changes.

The Changes

Number one is the U-turn on the Towngate Theatre and the Basildon Centre. Both were originally scheduled for demolition…and rebuilding elsewhere in the Town Centre. There was public outrage in 2006 at the thought of buildings, scarcely 20 years old at the time, and however controversial their initial development, being simply knocked down by a Conservative administration, only to be rebuilt somewhere else, out of some sort of peevish spite towards a previous hung council that gave the go-ahead for their construction back in the 80’s. But that proposal has now slipped to the bottom, if not off the bottom, of the administration’s list of priorities.

It’s not just cream that rises

What has risen to the top – and it’s not always cream – is the proposal for a new college on the site of the current market. The market itself will re-locate to areas indicated within St.Martin’s Square which the accompanying map suggests will be close to M&S and Westgate. There are potent signs that the market trader community is not overly pleased about these proposals. For one thing, the council seem to be thinking of demountable, storable market stalls whilst the traders favour the ‘log cabins’ where they can keep their stock without having to transfer it every market day.

Members of the council administration are rubbing their hands at the prospect of the spending power of 2000 students and the effects it will have on the retail businesses of the town centre. Is that why Cllr Horgan has identified “an under provision of leisure, restaurants, cafes and bars” according to the council’s press release ?

By contrast, it seems “There is clear evidence to suggest that the town centre has an overprovision of retail”, in plain speak “too many shops” .

A TOWN CENTRE COLLEGE

Evidently South Essex College,  comprising the Southend, Basildon and Grays sites, is committed to town centre locations. Much the same is happening in Thurrock, where even more cynically, the council actually removed the Woodview (old Thurrock Tech) site from the Green Belt so it can be developed for housing. That branch of the college is being transposed to a site close to Grays civic offices. In Basildon in 2011 the council gave up any pretence at trying to protect the green fields off  Dry Street that will be sold off along with the current Basildon college site to help finance the college relocation, despite voting to try and get them into the Green Belt in 2006. To be truthful it was the Labour government that rejected their inclusion, after which Basildon council seems quietly to have given up on the project. They have justified this with such statements as: “Young people in Basildon deserve the best education. Education leads to better jobs and better life chances.” (Echo, 18 January 2012) Not exactly rocket science, but sufficient to imply, as has already been implied, that to oppose the sale of the Dry Street land, because the proceeds will go towards the development of the new college, is not to support “better life chances” for local young people. This is at least arrant, if not arrogant nonsense.

The quality of education provided to Basildon’s youngsters does not depend on the age of buildings but on the quality of the teaching and the courses offered. As one young correspondent with the Green Action Group put it “I’m an eighteen year old student who went to Woodlands and studied at Palmers College, Grays. From experience I know that a new building does not mean better education.” As for the spending power of college students, he writes: ” The scrapping of EMA (Education Maintenance Allowance) will mean more students with less money than before, even with a job I  found it hard to find money to spend at all, let alone everyday in Basildon town centre as HCA, Basildon Council and South Essex College seem to think will happen with the relocation of a college.”

CREATING A TOWN CENTRE COMMUNITY

Getting more folk to live in the town centre is probably a good idea. Brooke House was built for that purpose, and is now a Grade II listed building. More flats over shops and hence more human traffic across its blustery spaces may well make the place more attractive of an evening. Together with a hopefully thriving Towngate Theatre  and other town centre leisure opportunities the much desired night-time economy could be boosted. But a cinema ?  It sounds good but with the Festival Leisure Park, BasVegas, on its doorstep, how viable will it be ? Why not something a bit more imaginative, an ice-rink for instance ? Perhaps an ice-rink that could transform to a dance floor: Strictly Come Basildon has a certain ring to it.

SHOPS – “an emphasis on quality rather than quantity”

A decent book shop would be a good start, not necessarily huge – quality rather than quantity. Or an ironmongers.  People will have their own preferences, but something needs to be done to extend the retail offer beyond mobile-phone outlets and £-shops.

That’s an exaggeration of course because there are some good shops in Basildon. We just need more of them !