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Echo article. Leigh flats: Has the tide turned? [01/03/07] |
Developers
have submitted plans for more than 150 flats in Leigh in the last
year - but Southend Council has turned down every one of them.This
is a noted change from the previous year, when developers managed
to get plans for 31 flats passed by the council. Could this shift
mark a permanent transition away from flat-building in Leigh? .......
Despite their refusal by Southend council, many residents are still
sceptical there is any chance of flat development tailing off.
James Baker, a partner at RV Hall and Co estate agents, in the Broadway,
Leigh, said ..."Developers know there is a big demand for flats
in Leigh. The money people are prepared to pay has also gone up a
lot for good quality flats." However, he said buyers were also
keen to snap up Leigh's traditional Victorian and Edwardian properties.
Eddie Cornish, chairman of West Leigh Residents' Association,
said he was afraid these traditional properties were being lost, and
not just due to flat development. Following a recent Leigh Town Council
planning meeting, he said: "There were 29 applications that evening.
They are converting what we would say are normal town houses into
mansions, more or less. If we are not careful, with developers building
all the flats and the small houses being converted into larger properties,
there won't be any properties for people to downsize into. The only
option they'll have is to move into flats."
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