BRENTWOOD'S Crown Street will be transformed with a multimillion-pound development of shops and flats – dubbed Towie Towers.
The plans put forward by Paul Mecklenburgh, father of Towie star Lucy, involve the demolition of the building at the corner of Hart Street and Crown Street and the construction of a three-storey building containing 14 flats and shops.
First revealed by the Gazette in December 2011, the proposal was rejected by the borough council's planning development control and licensing committee in July last year after members decided it would be too large.
That application was for a four-storey block of 17 flats plus ground-floor shops and food outlets.
However, at last week's planning meeting, councillors voted to give the go-ahead to the revised plan.
For more than three years, the entrance to Crown Street has been marred by the former bike shop.
The shop continued to operate until 2006 but since then it has blighted the entrance to the cobbled street.
Lin Heath is one Crown Street trader who has welcomed the council's decision.
The owner of French Quarter said: "I'm very happy that it's been passed. It should be a vast improvement for this road. I think all the traders down here would agree with me.
"When shoppers look down Crown Street all they can see are lorries parked in the bay and the dilapidated remains of the building on the corner.
"Something has needed to be done there for years."
Nigel Clarke, who owns The Hair Company in Crown Street, said: "I think it's good. It's not as big as the original development.
"The way it is at the moment it's just an eyesore and in the current climate we are very lucky to have someone want to build it in the first place."
Ian Page, owner of the Crown Street Cafe, said: "It has been a complete eyesore for years. Developers have successfully built apartments on Hart Street.
It doesn't encourage shoppers to walk down Crown Street when there is an old bike shop rotting away on the corner.
"Crown Street has been the forgotten part of Brentwood and so all in all it has to be a good thing."
However, Corinne Nunn, who has run her nail studio in nearby Ropers Yard for the past eight years, is decidedly unhappy with the plans.
The owner of Nails At Studio 4 said: "We have not been notified of the plans whatsoever.
"It's good to have a development there but the size of it means all our natural light is going to be blocked out. And what about the dust and the noise?
People come in here to have relaxing experience – what sort of compensation are we going to get because of the disruption from the development?"
When asked if the council had consulted Nails At Studio 4, a spokesman replied: "The council always consults on planning applications with those affected, and in respect of the application you mention, we wrote to the address you give on December 7, 2012."
What do you think of this new development? E-mail editorial@ gazettenews.co.uk or write to Brentwood Gazette, 1st Floor, Kestrel House, Hedgerows Business Park, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 5PF
