Mistley Quay Viability Assessment
Tendring District Council (the Council) is preparing its Local Development Framework. One of the initial local development documents being prepared is the Mistley Waterfront and Village Urban Regeneration Area Supplementary Planning Document (the SPD). The Council is also in the early stages in the preparation of its Core Strategy Development Plan Document, including the compilationof the necessary evidence base. Mistley Port lies at the core of the historical heart of the village, providing a source of local employment in a commercial port handling approximately 150,000 tonnes of cargo a year.
In order to inform the Council's preparation of the SPD, including the consideration of potential options, and subsequent policies and allocations in the Core Strategy and other DPDs, the Council commissioned Adams Hendry Consulting Ltd and MDS Transmodal Ltd to undertake an assessment of Mistley Port and to provide advice to the Council on the future of the Port.
The overarching objective for the study is to provide the sound evidence base necessary to support the Mistley SPD, which will provide a positive planning framework for the future of the area. The report will also inform the preparation of new policies for Mistley Port through the Local Development Framework, and may form part of the evidence base for the Core Strategy and subsequent DPDs.
The agreed objectives for the study were to:
- Appraise the small port industry and provide information about current and likely future market demand (taking into account the current economic downturn)
- Provide a thorough analysis of the port in its present state, as it currently operates, to provide useful baseline information
- Test the options to be set out in the draft Mistley Waterfront and Village Urban Regeneration Area SPD currently being prepared by another consultancy on behalf of the Council, recommending which one should be the preferred option to help regenerate the area in accordance with the requirements of Policy LMM1 in the Adopted Local Plan
- Test the benefits of adding value-added processes on site and how this would affect the overall performance of the port (in particular, whether there would be an increase in the number and/or quality of jobs)
- Provide advice as to whether the port allocation to the east of Mistley Quay should be retained in the LDF for long term future port uses. Confirm what the site could be used for if retained for port uses, given the constraints of the site and adjacent environmental designations