Hockley Area Action Plan - Issues and Options

All options should have as a priority the maintenance of a village character. Hockley town centre is in direct competition with supermarkets and out of town trading estates where there is ample free parking and every kind of shopping and services available in one spot.
To compete, Hockley must have a bigger and better range of retail services, with a more appealing environment and more free parking.
Eldon Way industrial estate is an area of land which could be put to more appropriate uses. Some leisure activities have already moved there. If it was converted to housing there would be no benefit to Hockley and a considerable increase in traffic and other loads on the infrastructure. It should be considered as a method of finding the money and the land to improve the centre of Hockley by entering a development deal providing a mixture of housing, retail and leisure.
There is a large enough population in Hockley to support a bigger shopping offer. Also there is plenty of passing traffic, some of which could be persuaded to stop and shop. It would not necessarily lead to more traffic.
The passing traffic leads to problems with congestion but these need treatment of all the approach roads or diversion of some of the traffic. Tinkering with Spa roundabout will not work.
A more frequent and reliable bus service is essential.

It is essential that Hockley residents are kept informed as developments go ahead, perhaps with an annual report from RDC.

The best solution would be to have a more modern, compact retail centre, including a square and a slightly larger supermarket (no more than 25% larger), with free (or refundable) parking. Shops to complement (not compete with) supermarket.
The preferred option would be to expand Spa Road shopping area to the north, into the south side of Eldon Way estate, with shops, leisure and parking, by removing the buildings between Alldays and Somerfields.
If a town square was built, consider holding a farmer's market.

More off-street car parking in town centre if shops are to be revived.
Use gardens behind shops in Spa Road, use Alldays carpark and perhaps demolish Alldays to make more parking and better access.
Perhaps underground parking.
Remove industrial buildings on south side of Eldon Way estate to give more space for retail and leisure - perhaps a town square with underground parking.
Make carpark behind library more convenient by putting a walkway through the church grounds from Southend Road to Spa Road and moving the zebra crossing to line up with it.
Use old woodyard in Main Road as carpark for isolated shops.

Develop Eldon Way estate for housing, retail and leisure. This would have to pay for the whole redevelopment of Hockley town centre.
Make sure there are enough jobs from new business in town centre to replace industry.

The Royal Mail site would be useful for retail or parking but only if they are prepared to move elsewhere in Hockley. We don't want to lose jobs.

The clinic is run down. It should be rebuilt as a small Primary Care Centre to work with existing doctors and with own parking.
A large new polyclinic in Hockley would damage the GP's surgeries and cause too much traffic.

Who pays for these developments.
What are the costs.
Can landlords afford to pay for improving their property.
Can tenants afford the rents for new or improved properties.
It seems unlikely that national or local government will supply funding.
A private developer would only be interested if he could develop the whole of Eldon Way estate. He could be made to pay for improvements to the infrastructure and for developments in Spa Road in return for permission to develop Eldon Way estate.
If piecemeal development is allowed there will be no funding for infrastructure or other improvements.

Spa roundabout is too busy with traffic but the real cause is that the roads leading to it are overcrowded. Unless they can be improved or traffic can be diverted onto other routes which bypass Hockley, it is difficult to improve the Spa roundabout.

Remove some of the traffic from Spa Road by building a new road from Stantons to Eldon Way behind the shops in Spa Road.
A more frequent and reliable bus service is essential.

Create a bus / train interchange with associated junction improvements.