Silver End Essex County Councillor, Ross Playle, is working closely alongside Local Member of Parliament, Priti Patel, to break the deadlock that has brought a stalemate to the redevelopment of the old Crittall factory site in the centre of Silver End.
The site, which has been vacant since 2007, has been identified for regeneration with a mixed use development including housing in the recently adopted Local Plan and is an area residents most want to see development take place.
Over the past few months, Cllr Playle has traced the landowner of the site, made contact and held extensive conversations with them, and met with them alongside Ms Patel in Parliament.
This has resulted in an understanding of the current issues with the site and what has led to the current stalemate between the relevant parties. Contrary to hearsay, the issue is not contamination as is sometimes suggested locally but over the condition of the remaining structures and how they can be incorporated into any future designs.
Cllr Playle has been clear that any plans must protect as much of the heritage as feasibly possible and that the site should be of mixed-use with additional public facilities for the whole community. Future development proposals must also be subject to extensive consultation and engagement with local residents and provide new infrastructure and services.
Having met with the landowner and written to both Essex County Council and Braintree District Council, the Councillor and MP are continuing to work to try and break the deadlock between the relevant parties and get things moving again.
Commenting, Priti Patel MP, said:
“Now the Local Plan has been adopted, it is vital that Braintree District focuses its attention to sites identified within the Plan for development and it should be a brownfield-first approach.
“I am grateful to Cllr Playle for instigating this process and together we are now urging all the relevant parties to get back round the table to break the current deadlock. The site has been vacant and derelict for too long and there is an opportunity for redevelopment plans to come forward that engage the local community and hopefully bring this site back into use for the benefit of Silver End.”
Silver End County Councillor, Ross Playle, added:
“I am pleased Priti and I established a dialogue between ourselves, the landowner and the local authorities.
“I am happy to go on record saying that it was incredibly refreshing to hear their ideas and the genuine excitement they have about redeveloping this site.
“I am committed to seeing this site redeveloped for the benefit of residents and that this area once again becomes the centre of village life, just as it was when my grandad worked for Crittall’s all those years ago.
“I will keep residents updated as much as I can but hope people can appreciate that a lot of this is commercially sensitive.”
