(10) 3. Consultation feedback

A number of community engagement and consultation exercises have been undertaken in Hockley in recent years, to support the development of the Hockley Parish Plan, Hockley Area Action Plan and the Rochford District Core Strategy. For the purpose of developing the updated Hockley AAP options, the project team has reviewed feedback from:

• The Hockley Parish Plan residents survey;
• The Placecheck consultation undertaken for the original Hockley AAP process;
• Feedback on the original AAP options; and
• Feedback specifically related to Hockley from the Rochford Core Strategy Draft Submission document consultation.

As part of the process for the updated AAP options development, the project team also held an evening drop-in consultation session on 2 August 2010 in Kilnfield House on the Foundry Business Park.This was attended by approximately 60 local residents and gave the project team the opportunity to speak directly with the local community and understand their concerns and aspirations for the area.A1 plans of the local area were provided for people to sketch out their ideas and A1 sheets were provided for people to note down their priorities for the area.

The results of the consultation feedback from the drop-in consultation session are set out over the following pages. This is followed by a review of the key messages from previous consultation undertaken in Hockley.

Homes and employment

• More homes will bring more cars and road infrastructure could not cope.
• If we have to have housing it must be affordable housing for workers and suitable infrastructure must be provided including more doctors/dentists/schools.
• The area is already saturated and has enough residents.
• Businesses and flats above shops on Spa Road.
• Eldon Way provides jobs for local people so keep it, there is nowhere else suitable for it.
• On Eldon Way there should be a mixture of homes and businesses. Keep the businesses as they support the high street shops.

The physical Environment:

• Improve shop front but don’t make them all the same.
• Retain the village character (though one comment was left that said Hockley was not a village).
• Keep original buildings which add character, e.g. Spa Pub, thatched cottage, Spa building,Victorian shops on the north side of Spa Road.
• Make a green area in the centre of the village.
• Avoid building on Green Belt land.
• Keep green spaces between Hockley and surrounding towns so that it remains a separate space (Rayleigh).
• Landscaping for Spa Road would be nice.
• Fill the empty shops on Spa Road and use empty shops on Main Road to be redeveloped for residential.
• Speak to the church at an early stage about a pedestrian route through from the Fire station.
• Remove railings outside the bank and improve the appearance of that area.
• Make pavements wider to create a café culture.
• Don’t rip the heart out of the village – e.g. keep the post office.
• Any redevelopment would cause too much disruption in Hockley.
• Hockley does not need a town square.
• Spa House and the new housing development next to it show the quality, height and style that are needed in the centre of Hockley.

Shops and Leisure:

• Two smaller supermarkets could encourage competition, there is no need for one huge one (no Tesco).
• Reduce business rates to encourage small businesses
• Retain independent shops and businesses (e.g. Urban café) so that Hockley offers something different from the surrounding area.
• Existing local services are excellent.
• Not everyone can drive so there needs to be suitable shopping facilities in Hockley that are able to support the whole population e.g. greengrocers/butcher/baker.
• A Medium sized supermarket on Eldon Way with car parking to replace Somerfield/Co-op.
• Remove pub fence and open up/improve outdoor/ French/farmers markets to attract more Saturday shoppers.
• Suggestion that the North Side (with Victorian shops on Spa Road) remain but are tidied up, but the south side (with Somerfield and Alldays) be redeveloped.
• Youth club, Fab, needs more advertising and encouragement.There needs to be more facilities for young people.
• No three or four storey buildings on Spa Road.
• No more restaurants and takeaways.
• Keep long standing family run businesses that have earned their place in the community.
• Introduce branded low/medium end clothing shops to bring people in e.g. New Look.
• Any supermarket proposals should be away from the village centre to reduce immediate competition with smaller shops already in the village.
• Happy with leisure already available at Eldon Way.
• Eldon Way needs to remain as it is – no clubs or pubs.
• Eldon Way should be used for leisure and not housing.
• Downgrade Hockley from Town to a District Centre (RDC retail and leisure study and DPD consultation responses).

Transport and Movement

• Short-term parking for free, e.g. 20mins.
• One Way traffic system through Hockley to Southend and Main Road (but some say no as it cuts off part of Hockley).
• No traffic lights at Spa Road but it does need improvements.
• Refurbish railway station.
• Too many cars for small roads and to support any more development.
• Need a by-pass (but at least 3 people did not agree with this saying it will kill Hockley).
• Make parking free at the station at weekends.
• Improve Lower Road to provide an alternative East-west route to release traffic congestion in Hockley (But issues of Green Belt designation).
• Buses should stop at the Railway station and not on Spa Road to reduce congestion. (but some said they need to stop adjacent to the shops for the elderly).
• Traffic calming needed throughout village.
• Traffic modifications should be careful not to make Woodlands Road a ‘rat-run’.
• Traffic calming needed in Southend road between Great. Eastern and Spa Roundabout to stop speeding.
• Create an alternative route for all the heavy duty vehicles.
• It would be nice to get traffic to the airport without impacting on the village.
• More parking needed.
• A footpath and information board in front of Spa Building.
• Increase numbers of pedestrian crossings.
• Buses to stop on Great Eastern Avenue.
• Bus services very frequent which is good.

Community

• Instead of a fair ground encourage fete/craft fair street celebration for all age groups.
• More visible policing.
• Encourage community involvement and help them to solve the problems themselves.
• Christmas lights.

Consultation plans

In addition to the general comments made by the local community on the A1 worksheets, attendees were also invited to put their comments directly onto A1 maps of Hockley centre, so that the project team were able to record spatial priorities according to local residents.

Three plans were set out on the tables at the drop-in session and the comments and sketches made on these are recorded over the following pages.The plans are not the result of three distinct discussion groups.Attendees were able to circulate between the tables with large plans and may have commented on more than one plan.

Key messages from previous consultation

The feedback from the drop-in consultation session provided similar themes and key messages to the feedback provided for the Hockley Parish Plan survey, for the original Placecheck consultation for the Hockley AAP and for feedback on the emerging Core Strategy for Rochford District Council.

The key messages from this earlier consultation have provided very useful background information for the project and have informed the development of the updated options for the Hockley AAP. The specific messages from these are not included in this report but have been recorded elsewhere.They can be reviewed on Rochford District Council’s website and on the Hockley Parish Plan website.

Feedback on the original AAP options

A number of concerns were raised by the local community regarding the original Hockley AAP options, developed in 2009.This prompted Rochford District Council to review the options and commission a new study to develop amended options for the community to consider.

The community’s comments on the original AAP options have also been taken into account in developing the updated options, and can be summarised as:

• The Hockley AAP should acknowledge the existing character of Hockley and seek to preserve and enhance this;
• The AAP should not only promote new development in Hockley but should guard against inappropriate development in the centre;
• A range of options should be provided for the centre, with different levels of intervention;
• Eldon Way Industrial Estate should be preserved as an employment use as much as possible;
• Greater attention should be given to improvements in Hockley which do not rely on new development;
• New housing in the centre should be limited in numbers and sensitive to the existing character; and
• Greater focus should be given to the delivery and funding of options for the Hockley AAP.