New Local Plan: Spatial Options Document 2021

The Trust is supportive of Strategic Priorities 2 and 4 and corresponding Strategic Objectives 7, 15, 16 and 19 which together support provision of the facilities Rochford needs to meet the social and cultural needs of local people, and contribute towards the strength and vitality of its town centres. This reflects paragraph 20.c of the NPPF in terms of plans setting a strategy for sufficient provision of community facilities including cultural facilities.

To accord with paragraph 93 of the NPPF (2021) the plan should ensure it sets policy which robustly protects Rochford's existing facilities from unnecessary loss and supports delivery of new facilities. It must be ensured this includes cultural facilities in order to reflect the range of uses within this category as described by the NPPF. Policy must ensure that any replacement facility continues to meet the needs of its users and is at least of equal standard to the facility to be lost.

All of the options cited above can contribute towards meeting community infrastructure needs.

Currently Mill Hall serves as the only performance facility in the district, and provides an important function to support the vitality of Rayleigh as a town centre. The plan proposes residential use for this site within Site Allocation COL7. Theatres Trust as a statutory consultee will strongly object to proposals which diminish Mill Hall's performance function; the proposed replacement facility outlined within consultation documents would be significantly smaller and would not realistically facilitate theatre and other larger shows. We object to allocation COL7 as set out within our specific comments on that section. The plan can address this by ensuring the cultural needs of Rochford are met and that if there is need to replace Mill Hall the plan allocates appropriate replacement which ensures continued theatre and cultural provision. Given the threat to Mill Hall the Trust is likely to seek participation at Examination in Public should the plan's policies fail to robustly support and protect Rochford's community and cultural facilities.

With regards to Rayleigh specifically as the district's principal town centre, it will be important for the plan to support and protect a diverse range of uses to preserve its function and vitality. Leisure and cultural facilities are increasingly being seen as vital to supporting town centres and maintaining footfall. To that end Mill Hall provides an important role, facilitating larger events including theatre, comedy and live music. These draw people into the town centre which in turn benefits other businesses. However the presence of Mill Hall appears to have been overlooked; it is omitted from Figure 38 despite its scale and importance within the town centre. A number of the options outlined have a role to play, but it must be ensured that community and cultural facilities are appropriately planned for and considered as an integral element of the overall town centre mix.

The Trust is opposed to the residential allocation for site COL7 (Mill Arts & Events Centre) unless the existing centre is protected or a replacement facility continues to provide a theatre and performance function to equal or better scale and standard to the existing facility. As currently envisaged within early consultation documents the replacement hall would be of smaller scale and would fail to offer realistic theatrical provision. It would likely conflict with indicative strategic priorities and objectives elsewhere within this plan as well as NPPF policy on community uses. The appraisal criteria fails to record impact on community and cultural provision; access to the town centre is measured but not the impact on the centre. Mill Arts & Events Centre is well regarded by local people evidenced by the strength of feeling and opposition to Council plans. It provides local people with access to culture and the arts, also drawing in visitors. It contributes towards cultural well-being, and supports the vitality of the town centre. We urge removal or revision of this site allocation as the plan is further developed.