Tendring district council has a few regeneration hurdles to overcome before it can make the most of the county’s newly approved economic growth strategy.
A trunk road, a container port and 55 acres of former pea and barley fields – these are the counters in the complex regeneration game now being played in north-east Essex as the county begins to put its newly approved economic growth strategy into action.
The port is Harwich, the trunk road is the A120 and the 55 acres are at Horsley Cross, a junction in the flat farming lands between Colchester, Clacton and Harwich.
The dilemma facing Tendring district council is how to get the road upgraded, the port developed and a suitably large industrial site ready for occupiers when each depends on finding a prior solution to the other two.
This tricky brain teaser became yet more complicated in October last year when the future of Hutchison Ports’ proposals to extend Harwich port with a £300m container terminal at Bathside Bay were thrown into doubt.
Hutchison Ports applied for permission to vary a planning condition that would have meant it had to improve the A120 before it could go ahead with development at Harwich port’s Bathside Bay extension. Instead, it wanted to delay the A120 improvement. To Hutchison’s horror, the government insisted the matter go to a public inquiry. Hutchison responded by withdrawing the application.
Late last month, emergency high-level talks were held between the council, Hutchison and the Department for Communities and Local Government to resolve the future of the port and the trunk road. More talks were taking place as Estates Gazette went to press.
Well-sourced speculation says Hutchison Ports will develop the port as the on-shore base for the Greater Gabbard and Anglia 1 wind farm developments planned off the Essex coast – and put the Bathside Bay container port plans on ice until at least 2021.
A planning application will soon go before councillors to extend the time limits on the existing planning permission. Tendring council leader Peter Halliday says: “We understand the commercial opportunity for Hutchison to start work on the on-shore side of off-shore wind farms, and perhaps that can open the way to the container port later.
“We will work with Hutchison Ports to maximise the local benefits, and that includes improvements to the A120. We’re discussing with the government how to progress with something interim before the container port development. I’d like to think we’d be able to agree something.”
The local MP is lobbying ministers, and a further meeting was due to take place this month.
Wind farms
Hutchison Ports did not want to talk to EG but Harwich port is already a focus for wind farm activity: it was the base for the installation of wind farms at London Array, Thanet and Gunfleet Sands and was recently awarded a £2.2m grant to improve facilities for wind farm support services.
Local landowners do not agree. For the owners of the 55-acre Horsley Cross site either side of the A120 trunk road, the wind farm industry could be a breath of fresh air. Edward Bennett, director at Croland Ltd and one of those behind the development of former pea fields at Horsley Cross, says wind farm suppliers are already looking at the site, now branded at Tendring Europark.
“The land will be mainly freehold, starting at £250,000 an acre, and we’ve already had interest, but as the wind farm development work at Harwich picks up speed, demand from that sector will be substantial. There will be 2,000 jobs in the immediate supply chain around Harwich,” says Bennett.
He adds that there is no other deliverable land available, and this site is identified in Essex county council’s economic strategy as part of the Harwich-Stansted corridor. “The day after we win planning permission we will start work on road improvements. There’s a massive chance to win occupiers from the Harwich wind farm supply chain.”
A planning application is due to be submitted any day now.
However, with mounting opposition from nearby villages, approval is not automatic. Besides, planning applications to develop the site have already stalled several times since 2006. Most recently, planning inspectors have rejected the site saying a greenfield site miles from major towns was unsustainable.
Late last year, Tendring council added the Europark site to its draft core strategy. Determined not to have the plans knocked back a third time, the council is seeking lawyers’ advice about the best way to promote development along the A120 corridor. They also fear including Horsley Cross could – if not handled properly – cause the entire local development plan to be rejected.
Property observers hope it will not come to that. Roger Hayward, partner at Fenn Wright, says Horsley Cross is one of a handful of Essex sites suitable for development. “Last time, this site didn’t get through planning because everyone lost their nerve, but if you want a 200,000 sq ft unit in mid and north Essex, there are very few options. Perhaps just one other – Temple Farm, Chelmsford,” he says.
“The area already appeals to occupiers – look at Tiptree Brooks’ 15-acre site near Horsley Cross.”
However, Vanessa Penn, director at Ipswich-based Penn Commercial, has her doubts about Horsley Cross. “There are sites available in Harwich, which would be more accessible, and they will go first I suspect,” she says.
Halliday says he hopes a development site – or even sites – along the A120 will find a permanent home in Tendring’s local plan. “There seems to be a need and a wish for a site along the A120 corridor,” he says. “We have been round this before, and lost in the planning system, and we do not want to lose again.”
The council will make a final decision on its core strategy in March – and Harwich Port and A120 improvements will follow, say observers. Fingers crossed.
Southend
The port of Harwich is at one end of Essex’s economic corridor – and London Southend Airport is at the other.
Just before Christmas, Southend council finally approved – after six years of debate – a joint plan with Rochford council to make the most of the airport’s expansion up to 2028.
The plan provides land for 1.2m sq ft of – mostly office – development, including more than 1m sq ft at Saxon Business Park and the balance on a smaller business park at Nestuda Way.
Another 161,400 sq ft could become available at the existing Aviation Way Industrial Estate.
Stobart-owned Southend Airport aims to increase passenger numbers to more than 2m by 2030.
Work is now under way on a £10m expansion of the airport terminal building, to improve departure lounge facilities. The new facility will be complete by Christmas 2013.
The airport plan will now require approval by ministers, which is expected later this year.
