onlineFOCUS – News and Stuff For Rochford District since 2003

Rayleigh Town Council have been very active in revitalising Rayleigh market. Up till now the comments we’ve heard about this have been generally very positive.

The Town Council are now applying to the District Council for planning permission, to cover the market on Wednesdays as it is now, but also for weekends and bank holidays and the Christmas Lights Event.

To quote from the officers report:

Planning permission is sought to operate an open air market within Rayleigh
High Street on Wednesdays (this is already occurring so is retrospective),
weekends, bank holidays and at the Christmas lights event.
+
The purpose of this application is to gain planning permission to avoid the
need to submit separate Street Trading Consent applications each year for
such markets which cost the Town Council £250 each. The Wednesday
market occurs on a weekly basis. The Town Council also wish to arrange
occasional weekend/Bank Holiday markets in the High Street. These may be
themed such as farmers markets, continental markets, or
second hand good markets.
+
The Wednesday market is held on 52 Wednesdays of the year and
one Christmas Event is currently held. The Town Council has advised that
they are willing to cooperate with RDC/ECC regarding the number of times a year
that markets may be held.
+
The Wednesday market is currently open for custom between the hours of
7:30 and 4, these hours are also sought for the possible weekend/bank
holiday markets.
+ Whilst the Wednesday market currently only operates on the
taxi rank side of the High Street, ECC is currently progressing an application
to allow more stalls on the other side of the High Street and this application
seeks consent for the market to occur on both sides of the High Street from
the top of Crown Hill to the clock at Bellingham Lane. The Christmas lights
event festive market is usually held on the last Thursday in November
however, this date has to be flexible. This market extends beyond the
Wednesday market positioning sought, extending up to Church Street. The
weekend/bank holiday markets would occur in the same positioning as the
Wednesday market but excluding the taxi rank.

Officers are recommending approval. However the application has attracted some negative comments:

LOCAL RESIDENTS
-
5 responses received (23 Bowbank Close Shoebury,
63 Bowers Road Benfleet, 3 Nevern Road Rayleigh, Martin McColl 71 High
Street, unknown address) which can be summarised as follows:
Taxi rank related concerns:
o
Wednesdays already a problem as public park in designated taxi areas
and market overruns by at least half an hour.
o
Elderly people get confused as to where they pick up their cab from
with some finding it a real struggle to get across the road and half way
up the hill to get a taxi.
o
Saturdays and bank holidays are busy times for taxi drivers and the
high street with all the taxis on the main road it will only add to the
congestion.
There are many other places to hold a weekend and bank holiday
market with parking facilities so confused as to why, as difficult as it is
already for us to earn a living, the Council is considering taking prime
times away from us.
o
This will affect a lot of drivers in the area to appease a handful of
traders who would do better to use the indoor market area provided or
one of the three half filled car parks or even the rear of the indoor
market.
o
If the market is just going to be up the high street this would not be a
problem.
o
Drivers were told that this market would only happen one day a week.
o
Please do not use the taxi rank area on any more days for the market.
Despite what you may think, the elderly and many disabled residents
rely on the local taxi service to move around this town and get to the
shops.
o
The designated taxi drop off and pick up areas are not an appropriate
replacement. We have the added danger of doors having to be opened
onto live traffic. That is if a taxi can get into these areas. Taxi drivers
are “fighting” a constant battle with members of the public who continue
to use these areas for private cars. When it is made known to them that
on Wednesdays the use of these areas is for taxis only and are asked
to move on more often than not we receive abusive replies.
Concerns from local shop:
o
Since the introduction of the market I have had terrible problems with
shoplifting on a Wednesday so much so that I have to patrol the front of
my store during these periods, I have on several occasions had to call
police for assistance.
o
We have a few stalls in the market selling ourproducts or linked
products. Whilst I feel it is healthy to have competition I feel a sweet
stall directly outside my store of detriment to us.
o
On numerous occasions rubbish has been left out by the stall holders
and general public bins being over filled which is obviously not a great
advert for our high street that we all wish to promote.
o
Increasing the days of the market I believe would be of detriment firstly
to my own store and the high street with traffic issues especially on a
Saturday making this area not viable for shopping. I feel very strongly
about this and would be happier for it to remain one day a week as I
cannot police my store all these days.
o
Maybe more time and effort could be put into filling our vacant shops to
help promote Rayleigh as the place to shop.
General:
o
I think Wednesdays work well as a novelty once a week. As the old
saying goes sometimes less is more.
o
It causes problems for taxies and local traders and from speaking to
people some older residents avoid going out Wednesday as it’s just too
crowded for them.

Any thoughts?

You can download the officers report here.

Legal note: Ron and Bruce are members of the Town Council. Chris will, as legally required, not make his mind up in advance of any committee meeting.

May 6th, 2013 | Category: Planning Applications, Rayleigh, Retail | Comments (5)

It’s good to see a shopowner in Rayleigh High Street using a bit of imagination and having a professionally-produced video on YouTube. So well done to “Feathering Your Nest” for doing this.

And credit also to  Toby Mountain, whose company created the video. (Toby is also a Conservative District Councillor).

April 23rd, 2013 | Category: Rayleigh, Retail, YouTube and Video | Comments (2)

Apparently there’s a new Tesco Express opening up in a former pub in Brentwood.

We’ve had the recent experience of the Tesco opening up in London Road Rayleigh. Do any onlineFOCUS readers have any comments or advice they’d like to pass on to the Brentwood councillors ?

January 9th, 2013 | Category: Essex & East, Retail | Comments (4)

Southend Blogger Jack Monroe writes here about increases in the price of basic foods:

As someone who buys pretty much the same items every week, spending around a tenner a time, I know the prices of the Sainsburys Basics range by heart. Bread is 50p a loaf, whether white or wholemeal. Chopped tomatoes are 33p for a cardboard carton. Kidney beans are 18p for a tin. Apples are 82p. Sainsburys Basics strawberry jam was, the last time I checked, 29p a jar. Not today. Today it was 35p a jar. People will be rolling their eyes now, that I’m quibbling over 6p, but it’s not the only 6p hike in the Basics range…

… Again, I can almost hear the tuts. “Oh, it’s only 6p, what’s she going on about?”
What she’s going on about, is the price of food. Strawberry jam is 120% of the price of strawberry jam two weeks ago. If in some horrible world, the inflation of the price of food carries on at that rate, it will be 42p in a fortnight, and over £40 a jar by the end of the year. Of course that won’t happen, but it’s a demonstrative figure as to how effective that ‘small’ 6p hike could be.
Having worked for one of the ‘big four’ supermarkets myself, I know how they work. Essential items like bread and milk are at the periphery of the store, and down the middle is what ASDA used to call ‘action alley’, where promotions are piled high and sold cheap. Tins of Christmas chocolates 3 for £10. Crates of beer 2 for £20. Never anything nutritious, or necessary, but marked down and boldly signposted ….

January 7th, 2013 | Category: Retail | Leave a comment

Chris Black writes:

I was up in Rayleigh Town Centre this afternoon. First thing I noticed was that the Castle Road Car park was very nearly full, which you’d hope it would be , with free parking! However I still had to stop one person from trying to pay – he hadn’t read the stickers.

Partial power cut on the left-hand side of the High Street

There was still a partial power cut in part of the High Street- in thePhones 4 You / Martins / Boots/ Rayleigh Lanes / Hudsons Barbers area. Apparently there was a complete power failure there on Friday afternoon, which meant some businesses had had to close completely. Today there was single phase power, but not triple phase, which meant that the shops had some lighting but couldn’t operate a lot of equipment. So to buy some shaving cream in Boots I had to be escorted by a staff member to the shelf, and he had to write down the amount and the bar code. Cash only. It must be very very disappointing for some businesses.

However one shopowner I spoke in a different part of the High Street had enjoyed a really good Christmas season.

And finally many thanks to the shop assistant in one shop who directed me to a competitor because they didn’t have the item I wanted in stock! Just like a scene from the classic movie “Miracle On 34th Street”, when Santa Claus in Macy’s Department Store tells people where they get stuff from rival stores….

December 22nd, 2012 | Category: Rayleigh, Retail | Comments (1)

Something cheery to write about this evening : A new sweet shop opens in Rayleigh High Street this Saturday! The Mr Simms shops are a franchise operation that seems to have a succesful feel-good formula. According to their main website:

Mr Simm’s Olde Sweet Shoppe was formed in July 2004. The initial idea was inspired by an etching of an old fashioned sweet shop discovered in a copy of 1958 confectionery magazine. Extensive market research realised that confectionery specialists had dwindled over the decades, consistent with the demise of most small independent retailers. Today there is sameness in most towns and cities that leaves a door wide open for a new, creative and unique type of retail outlet.

It will be interesting to see how creative they are….. and if anyone wants to write a review of their sweets (with a photo or two) please let us know.

Incidentally the Rayleigh shop set up their own Facebook page this week.

October 4th, 2012 | Category: Rayleigh, Retail | Comments (6)

First of all, congratulations to Schucks Chutneys and Jams from Hockley for reaching the finals of the Essex Food and Drink Awards last night. They didn’t win, but it was still an achievement for such a small business to get so far.

You can buy their stuff at Ven’s shop in Hockley, which is the retail outlet for Ven’s Brewery in Rawreth. (What do you mean, you didn’t know there was a brewery in Rawreth?)

Ven’s sell Schucks products, plus bottles of their own beer, plus a good range of other local beers, cider and wines, including Paglesham Punch Cider. (What do you mean, you hadn’t heard of Paglesham Cider?)

The real question is – are these beers and chutneys any good? One of us on the Onlinefocus team carried out some research today. Ven’s Gold is a pale golden colour with a very good taste, without feeling too heavy. Schucks Caramelised Red Onion Chutney is a bit of a surprise when you open it, with quite long wisps of onion and shallot inside. But it has a very nice homemade taste, and you don’t need too much of it , so is quite economical.

Take the beer , the chutney, a fresh roll and some cold meat, and you have a very pleasant combination. A couple of bottles and a jar of chutney could make a very welcome present for the right person.

September 25th, 2012 | Category: Food and Drink, Hockley, Paglesham, Rawreth, Retail | Comments (5)

It was a long meeting of the Development Committee tonight , and slightly unusual in that the Chief Executive , Paul Warren, was sitting in the corner of the public gallery, observing.

Of the two applications we’ve mentioned on onlineFOCUS:

The housing on the E-On site off London Road, Rayleigh was passed. Only Chris Black, Diane Hoy and Tracy Capon voted against.

The dog and cat grooming parlour in Ferry Road Hullbridge was passed overwhelmingly, with the motion for approval moved by Michael Hoy and seconded by Angela Hale.

July 26th, 2012 | Category: Future Housing, Planning Applications, Rayleigh, Retail | Leave a comment

As Bruce Smart wrote on onlineFOCUS yesterday, councils have no control over the type of shop that can open in what is designated as a retail outlet.

But when someone wants to change a shop into something that isn’t retail, then it does need planning permission. And there’s an example of this right now, where officers are recommending that we refuse to give that permission, in order to keep a parade of shops as a viable shopping location

It’s in Hullbridge, at 249 Ferry Road. There’s an application to turn a hardware store into a dog and cat grooming parlour.

You can download the officers report here (47kb)

Here’s a few paragraphs from the report:

This small parade provides a hardware shop (the site) , a kebab shop, butchers/grocers, chinese takeaway, convenience store, hairdressers and a veterinary practice. Four of these units (including the application site) are in use for retail purposes.

Information stated on the application form indicates that the retail unit is not vacant. The unit was still trading at the time of officer’s site visit. No information has been supplied by the applicant with regards to attempts to let or sell the unit for retail purposes. The premises have not been vacant for a period of 12 months. With no information provided to consider the continued viability of the retail use , to approve the application would be contrary to Policy SAT6 of the saved Local Plan.

REFUSE
1 The proposal would result in the loss of an existing retail unit. The Local Planning Authority considers such retail units important in providing a range of services for the day – to – day needs of the nearby residential neighbourhood. The applicant has failed to demonstrate that the loss of the retail unit is justified because the unit is not vacant and no information has been submitted regarding the viability of a retail use nor that the unit cannot be sold or let for retail purposes. If allowed the proposal would result in the loss of an existing retail unit within the local shopping parade that would further undermine the retail function and vitality of the parade in conflict with the requirements of Policy RTC3 to the Council’s Local Development Framework Core Strategy (adopted December 2011) and part (i) to Policy SAT 6 to the saved Rochford District Replacement Local Plan (2006).

This application will be refused unless any councillor calls it in by 1 pm on Wednesday. District councillors still have to keep an open mind on this one in case it is called in.

July 6th, 2012 | Category: Hullbridge, Planning Applications, Retail | Comments (4)

Bruce Smart writes:

…..It’s been confirmed to Rayleigh Town and Rawreth Parish Councils that Rayleigh is losing Steve Joynes for 2 months. Steve is an Acting Sergeant and the Rayleigh & Rawreth Neighbourhood Constable. We are very appreciative of the prompt replies we have had from Steve on various issues and the hope is that he will be back after 2 months. Representatives from Rayleigh Town Council will be meeting with a senior police officer to discuss our concerns. In the meantime other officers will be covering Steve’s role and we’ll advise later on this.

…..Finally I am looking at the possibility of a charity fair on May Day in the Mill Hall car park. There used to be one every year ! This is very much a slow process…

July 5th, 2012 | Category: Crime & Policing, Events, Grass and Greenery, Highways & Parking, Rayleigh, Retail | Comments (4)

It’s been announced today that a planning inspector has refused permission to Sainsbury’s for an out-of-town store near Saffron Walden in Essex.

Although it’s not directly relevant to our district, the inspector’s decision would be useful reading for councillors , traders and campaigners interested in planning. You can download her decision here. (225k)

The key paragraph is right at the end:

_
75. Notwithstanding the above advantages the appeal proposals would not result in a sustainable form of development resulting in sustainable economic growth.
The impact on the convenience turnover of the town centre and the probable loss of an investment opportunity are matters of overriding importance. In the face of such significant adverse impacts Paragraph 27 of the Framework
[of the coalition government's new planning policies] says that such proposals should be refused. Whilst I have taken account of all other matters raised I have found nothing to alter my conclusion that the appeals
should not succeed.
Christina Downes
INSPECTOR

Basically, the inspector is following new government guidelines on a strong ‘town centre first’ policy. One of the things she mentioned was the importance of an existing Waitrose store in Saffron Walden town centre. It seems that Sainsbury’s ingeniously argued that Waitrose customers would be so loyal to their usual store that it wouldn’t suffer much loss in trade. In return it seems that Waitrose warned that it would lose trade, and if Sainsburys got permission Waitrose would cancel a planned extension to their own store.

The inspector commented in her decision that:

51….. The Council’s analysis seems more credible and
for a town centre to lose as much as 43% to 50% of its convenience turnover
is likely to result in serious and significant harm to vitality, viability and retail
function even for a town centre as healthy and relatively prosperous as Saffron
Walden. Those food shops with small profit margins would undoubtedly suffer
and market traders may find it difficult to remain viable…..

The Saffron Walden Reporter has a report on the appeal here.

Sainsbury’s website puts forward their point of view here.

A local campaigners’ website is here.

The local Lib Dems opposed the store – see here.

May 17th, 2012 | Category: Essex & East, Planning Applications, Retail | Leave a comment