With a huge heads up from the Queens Road Resident’s Association, here’s a reminder that the very delicate issue of re-opening Queen’s Road to traffic is up for consideration at Colchester Borough Council later this month.

This is of course an extremely contentious issue locally. The good folk of Queen’s Road have a very vested interest. Living (just) outside of the boundary lines for the QRRA, and geographically, I also have a possible interest.

I’m simply going to report the details of the council meeting, signpost how Wivenhoe locals can have their say, and then offer the views put forward by other local groups or organisations.

First off, the Planning Committee meeting takes place at Colchester Town Hall on Thursday 18th November at 6pm. Essentially it is to discuss the Phase 3 Planning Application for Cook’s Shipyard. The wider scope is to consider the:

“Erection of thirty-two dwellings, commercial units (within Class A1 - Retail and Class B1 - Business), garages, off street parking, roads and footpaths, public open space, foul and surface water drainage and hard and soft landscaping.”

CBC sent this application back to the developers, Taylor Wimpey, at a meeting on 9th September for reconsideration. The Gazette reported at the time:

“Councillors echoed concerns of residents, who had lodged objections over congestion, parking and the scheme being larger than originally thought.”

The stumbling block is the size of the bedrooms, a slight increase from the original plans. CBC also reported no provision for education as a concern.

So far, so good.

Which all leads to next Thursday and the consideration by the Planning Committee of the re-submitted plans. Part of this application is the suggestion from CBC that Queen’s Road be re-opened once again ahead of the Phase 3 building work. This is a move that the QRRA defiantly opposes:

“It is a fallacy that opening the road would ease the flow of traffic and this is diverting attention away from the flaws with the Cook’s Shipyard Planning application which can also be viewed in detail on the CBC web-site. All these same arguments about keeping the road open were dealt with three years ago and nothing has changed in that respect.”

The red herring of emergency vehicle access down Queen’s Road will hopefully not be taken into account by the Planning Committee. The recent fire at the Wivenhoe Business Centre led to a misunderstanding by fire officers, as the Sat Nav system directed them along Queen’s Road. With local knowledge on board, this shouldn’t be an issue in future.

Wivenhoe Town Council is in favour of re-opening Queen’s Road for residents. Councillor Penny Kraft confirmed this at the Neighbourhood Area Panel meeting earlier this week.

Likewise, Colchester Borough Councillor, Steve Ford of Wivenhoe Quay ward, is supporting the re-opening of Queen’s Road. He stated at the NAP meeting that he accompanied the Highways department on a site visit before the Business Centre fire. The overall view was for a re-opening.

With the majority of the NAP meeting on Tuesday taken up discussing parking issues around West Quay, it is crucial that a long term traffic plan is put in place ahead of the building of Phase 3 at Cook’s. The short term site access is also a vital consideration.

The meeting on the 18th is open to members of the public, although only one person is allowed to speak for and against the application. You can download the detailed plans for Phase 3 over here [PDF]