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A Momentous Time for Hamlet Court Road

Last October the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced substantial funding for British High Streets including £44m for historic High Streets. HCCF has been working very hard to encourage the Council to support a bid for up to £2m of this money and the recent change in Administration has seen support coming from the Labour and Liberal Democrat groups. We can make the bid and we believe we have a good chance of success – we have already indicated our interest to Historic England (who are running the fund) and they are well aware of Hamlet Court Road’s special interest. However, it all depends upon Conservation Area designation and general support from the Council. We are lobbying very hard for the top half of Hamlet Court Road (south of London Road) to have a fast track Conservation Area designation and for the Council to partner with the local community for the bid. So as we write it is a case of wait and see but with a 12th July deadline for the bid we will know soon if our Council are going to support our work and aspirations.

The image opposite shows what can be achieved with before and after pictures for The Strand in Derby

Council to repair street furniture

Great News – Following our requests to the Council the damaged street furniture in Hamlet Court Road, such as bent and broken railings, wonky bollards and sign posts, and displaced planters, is due to be repaired – some work has already taken place. Our thanks to officer Andy Lewis for acting so swiftly and we look forward to seeing the repairs roll out in the coming month or so.

 

News for 2019

Big News 1 for 2019 – the Council are in the process of engaging consultants to undertake the ‘heritage work’ in the Hamlet Court area. We are not entirely sure what this means but it will certainly involve some sort of assessment of local heritage. The community will be invited to participate in the consultation and we will be starting our research into local history. If anyone has any historic information particularly old family photos and memories we would love to hear from you. Please email us here http://hamletcourt.org/contact/ or post on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/groups/HamletCourt/. It has taken a great deal of work to get to this point so we can be very pleased.

Big News 2 for 2019 – this year a main piece of our work is to help bring about a traders partnership with the Council. This has the potential to access funds and bring about local improvements but most importantly engage the traders with the community and the Council. We hope this will enable us to achieve things like the Xmas lights now that we have more time than was available for this project last year.

Big News 3 for 2019 – this year is an important year for the local elections as Councillor Jonathan Garston is standing for re-election and his seat is finely balanced. We have asked BOTH main political parties to support local regeneration and we hope this is an opportunity for politicians across the spectrum to join in supporting the local community. More details will follow in the coming weeks but watch this space for updates.

If you are interested in joining our work we would love to invite you sit in on a few meetings to see what we are up to. Details can be found here http://hamletcourt.org/conservation/. Membership and local enthusiasm are the only qualifications!

Budget unlocks funding

Fantastic news. Following this week’s Budget announcement Historic England are to fund up to £55m to revive these historic streets. We have to work to get a share of this for Hamlet Court Road and this is why we need Southend Council to support Westcliff and recognise the importance of the area at the heart of our town. See here

Annual General Meeting

Our AGM was held on 30th June 2018 and our Chairman updated the meeting on our work during our first year. He particularly addressed the importance of our rich local heritage to the community and, therefore, to the successful future of Hamlet Court Road. He referenced recent statements in support of adaptive retail by Mary Portas and from Bill Grimsey in an important report that repeatedly references Heritage in accessing how High Streets can recover. The meeting re-elected the current Forum officers and a brief financial report was received. Finally we enjoyed a delightful interview session with Carol Edwards, local author of a new book on Hamlet Court Road where Carol emphasised the importance of local people to the history of the road. The event closed with refreshments and a chance to chat

LOVE HAMLET COURT ROAD

Saturday 21st July & Sunday 22nd July 2018

A fantastic new public event in Hamlet Court Road to celebrate local place. Local shops and businesses are invited to support the event and offer something different, perhaps a new offer or discount to help the community enjoy the day and to encourage business. If a business wants to use the ‘Love Hamlet Court Road’ logo, say for social media purposes, please just email us at one of the contact email addresses and will provide a free logo. The local community is invited to visit or extend a visit in Hamlet Court Road – try something new, something different and support your local shops and businesses.

1. Spend time in the street
2. Look up at the amazing architecture
3. Support 1 or 2 extra shops
4. Stop for some refreshment
5. Take breakfast, lunch or an evening meal
6. Make an extra purchase
7. Visit us at our gazebo
8. Support the road in your own way

Supporting Hamlet Court Road

Age Concern have two current planning applications to convert the Havens store into a community centre for the elderly. As much as we support the good works of Age Concern we have objected to this application because it takes away the retail use that is so important to the retail trade of Hamlet Court Road and to the importance of this historic, Listed, Art Deco store. This could adversely affect the long term future of the road and so we support a modern, adaptive, retail use, as happens elsewhere, perhaps incorporating a café and workshops to support new businesses. The building is unsuited for the types of sub-division proposed and this would damage the beautiful open store interior. We also suggest that a deep plan building with difficult access and very little natural light is not the best place to care for the elderly. You see these applications on the Southend Council website.

New Heritage Index puts Southend in its place…

NEW HERITAGE INDEX PUTS SOUTHEND IN ITS PLACE…

The Royal Society of Arts launched the Heritage Index in London this week and it shows a mixed position for Southend-on-Sea. The index scores the heritage attributes of all towns or areas across England and these include everything from historic buildings, sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs such as the estuary), Heritage Lottery funding, local heritage events and much more. Southend scores in an amazing 7th place out of 325 for heritage assets placing it in the top 2.2%. If only that were the whole picture. Sadly the town also score 256th for heritage activities, more or less the bottom 1/5th of the index. Unfortunately this is borne out by our experience in the town, particularly Council involvement in our heritage.

This demonstrates the huge opportunity that exists for significant improvement in community collaboration to open up the real life experience of local heritage in Southend. This is what we hope our work will help to see unfold in Hamlet Court Road but it does need enthusiasm and support from our Council. Many towns and area across England are living their heritage. For example, check out the work of Art Gene (http://www.art-gene.co.uk/) in Barrow-in-Furness, the area placed first in the index for Landscape & Natural Heritage (in spite of the Lake District being just up the road).

You can freely access and explore the Heritage Index at https://www.thersa.org/action-and-research/rsa-projects/public-services-and-communities-folder/heritage-and-place

Please raise the profile of your local heritage concerns either here or elsewhere on social media