Hockley Area Action Plan Options Report

Ended on the 4 February 2011
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(182) 5. Spatial option 1

Benefits
This scheme preserves the character of Hockley, with minimal development intervention in the centre
The scheme improves parking capacity and accessibility with minimal intervention
Potential issues
This spatial option has very limited development but a reasonable level of public realm improvements, which could prove challenging to fund
This scheme does not help to meet the demand for new homes in the local area and does not therefore relieve pressure on the Green Belt for new development

Spatial option 1 for the AAP is a 'minimal intervention approach' with a focus on improvements to pedestrian links, parking and the public realm and shop front improvements along Spa Road, with a small number of poor quality buildings being replaced by new shops. The key elements of option one can be summarised as:

Development and land uses

  • Providing shop front improvements to the units on the retail stretch of Spa Road and the central sections of Main Road and Southend Road.
  • Replacement of the warehouse style building at 2 Main Road with new shop units and a small number of homes to provide stronger frontage to the historic centre of Hockley.
  • Replacement of warehouse style retail units at 34-40 Spa Road.

Traffic and parking

  • Consolidation of the parking area behind Somerfield/ Co-op and the former Alldays store to provide more parking.
  • Increasing the amount of parallel on-street parking on Spa Road.
  • Consider the potential to open the western entrance to Potters car park, to help ease congestion at the Spa roundabout. Cars entering and exiting the car park from the west would no longer need to use the roundabout and Spa Road to access the car park, relieving congestion at this point.This would need to be subject to further testing.

Movement and public realm

  • Improvements to the train station frontage and the public realm to provide a real front entrance to the station.
  • Establishing a pedestrian link between the train station and Eldon Way employment area.
  • Enhancing the green pedestrian link between Bramerton Road and Eldon Way.
  • Provide paving and streetscape improvements to the retail core of Hockley, on Spa Road, Main Road and Southend Road to strengthen the presence and profile of the centre.
  • Greening Spa Road and other key areas with tree planting.
  • Providing table-top crossings for pedestrians at secondary road junctions on Spa Road.
  • Providing a large table top crossing at the northern end of Woodlands Road, to help create a public space at the Spa roundabout, the historic core to Hockley.

Option 1A.02
Key

Development site details

Option 1 PR A
Option 1 PR B

Public realm investment

The table below sets out the proposed public realm investment in option 1.The particular areas for the intervention are set out below.The table below sets out the building interventions, with the particular sites identified in the plans.

Site Public realm description Floor area
(Red line area minus road area receiving no new treatment)
A
  • Extension of paving along Main Road and Southend Road from Spa Road roundabout.
  • On street parking along Spa Road on paved surface and slight narrowing of Spa Road.
  • Tree planting throughout area.
  • Secondary road treatment at start of Woodlands Road, Bramerton Road and car park entrances.
  • Potential for new street furniture.
  • Where possible, paving improvements to include areas within private ownership that were excluded from previous improvements.
4,500
B
  • New paving and shared road surface at entrance to train station.
  • Improvements to footpath linking to Spa Road
700

Heritage led frontage improvements: Length of frontage within improvement zone = 640m

Development sites

Site Existing
use 		Proposed
use 		Number
of
storeys 		Existing areas Proposed areas Site
Area (sqm)
Land use Approx.
no. of
units 		Gross
external
floor area
(sqm) 		Land use Approx.
no. of
units 		Gross
external
floor area
(sqm)
1 2 single
storey
retail units 		2 retail
units with
flats above 		3 Retail 2 275 Retail 2 360 700
Flats 4 720
2 Single
storey
retail and
parking 		Single
storey
retail 		1 Retail 4 390 Retail 6 620 750

Total increase in areas

Option 1 DS
Total increase if whole of masterplan delivered
Land use Gross external floor area (sqm) Approx. units
Retail 315 2
Flats 720 4

Option 1

Axonometric visualisations of option 1

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