Kensington & Edinburgh Estates (South Woodham Ferrers) Limited Makes a Planning Application for a Developement in South Woodham Ferrers
Kensington & Edinburgh Estates (SWF) Ltd, is a joint venture between Kensington & Edinburgh Estates Ltd and Development Securities Plc. This company has just made a planning application to Chelmsford City Council to develop a site on Burnham Road, South Woodham Ferrers.
The site is currently home to Crouch Vale Nursery and Plantworld, two companies that have struggled to compete with larger, national garden centres and nurseries in the area, and are therefore wanting to plan for their futures.
The planning application consists of two elements. The first will deliver a new Sainsbury’s food store to serve the local community. This 45,000 sq ft supermarket will provide food and non-food products, a café, in store bakery and petrol station.
David Lazenby, Sainsbury’s Town Planning Manager commented, “Not only would the store bring extra choice, but it would also create up to 320 jobs for local people. We were really pleased by how many people welcomed the proposal to build a Sainsbury’s store in the town and we look forward to doing so.” David added “To be part of this mixed use development is very exciting for us.”
The second element consists of a new state of the art 16,000sq ft health facility, spanning two floors. This will bring the three existing GP practices in the town together into one purpose built facility, along with the possibility of a dentist, pharmacy and a clinic. When relocated the doctors will still operate independently from one another. The new facility will allow a higher standard and quality of medical care for local residents, and will offer a greater range of services offered at the new facility, reducing the need for travelling out of the area.
John Niland, Chief Executive of Provide, the main community services provider in Mid Essex commented, “We are working with the doctors and developers as we believe there is the potential for additional facilities to be incorporated in the new health facility, which could reduce the need for our patients to travel long distances to access investigations and opinions from hospital consultants. We are now beginning discussions with the Clinical Commissioning Group on these matters so we can explore the exciting possibilities.” John added “We welcome this application as an important staging post in delivering these benefits.”
Local residents have been lobbying for a new health care facility for many years, these plans have therefore been welcomed by the doctors and their respective Patient Participation Groups.
Careful consideration has gone into the landscaping surrounding the site in order to reduce the visual impact the development has on the surrounding countryside.
Highway capacity improvements will also be put in place along Burnham Road, and enhancements to nearby bus and pedestrian facilities will be carried out to ensure that the developments can be accessed safely.
