New Life for Blockbusters Corner Westcliff SS0 7HZ

06/10/2022

To HCR Business owners: If you would still like to benefit from a grant to improve your shop please apply by the start of December.
https://www.southend.gov.uk/news/article/2486/refresh-your-business-with-shop-front-improvement-grants?

Other Westcliff commercial landlords, investors and developers may be interested in the 0% loan of up to £175k to help bring a business premises back into use. Must have been empty for at least 6 months.

Anyone else thinking of Blockbusters?

If you would like to help our campaign to get this potentially wonderful corner of HCR/London Road transformed into the Gateway (to HCR and our City!) it deserves to be, please get in touch.
Landlords, businesses, residents, councillors all welcome

[email protected]

Join in the members discussion: https://www.westcliffpartnership.co.uk/plans-pricing

Blockbuster pages: https://www.facebook.com/NewLifeforBlockbustersCorner https://www.westcliffpartnership.co.uk/blockbusters-corner

You can see examples of schemes successfully supported with the same funding on their website https://www.no-use-empty.org.uk/

The Southend-led NUE project is using £2.2m of Government funding to help return empty commercial properties to use.
https://www.southend.gov.uk/business-1/south-east-–-no-use-empty

31/05/2022

Are you free to help litter pick tomorrow?

15/05/2022

Has anyone got any more details of what's going on at Blockbusters Corner?

It's good that SOMETHING is happening, but it would be nice to know what's happening. And if some of the community's amazing ideas are actually going to be implemented!

Below is the original list of 124 responses from the Hamlet Court Road Shops campaign nearly a year ago! Many of the ideas inter-relate, so could be combined.

The posts got 1000s of views and 124 people wrote down their ideas or voted for their favourite idea. This was a wonderful response from the whole community: residents, community groups, businesses & councillors on Facebook 27th June & 4th July 2021

Surely all that enthusiasm and work was not in vain?!

1. Youth Development Project (34)
Included calls for a range of facilities: advice, skills training, job/careers support, as well as leisure, music, multicultural events etc. See Skills Hub info below which could link in with this.

2. Market (20)
Suggestions included art, craft, makers market, antiques, food, local produce including greengrocers & butchers. Perhaps alternate weeks.

3. Pop-up Units, to try out business ideas (16)

4. Skills Hub (15)
eg training in ICT, Catering, Nutrition, Customer Service and other vocational skills for any groups/ages needing extra support. Also a workshop with tools for people to repair & make things. A library for people to borrow a range of things such as tools. Much of this could link in with the youth provision.

5. Multi-use Area for Events (12)
Music, multicultural etc

6. Refill Centre (11)
Similar to The Refill Room, 15 Elm Road, Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 1SW https://www.refillroom.com
or Southend Refills https://www.southendrefills.co.uk

7. Arts Studio Space (5)
Suggestions included dance, fitness, music, choir, art, martial arts

8. Family Activities (5)
9. Soft Play (4)

10. HiFi lounge on roof (2)

If this building (and others in Westcliff/Southend) mean a lot to you, please help the campaign by reading some of the information below and join in or share this post and link with people who have the connections to make this happen:

1. The Community Ownership Fund launches its prospectus from 23 May with the first bidding commencing 6 June 2022.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/community-ownership-fund-prospectus

2. High Streets Task Force
https://www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk

3. Previous/Existing options? - Community Wealth Building
https://cles.org.uk/community-wealth-building/what-is-community-wealth-building/

The Community Ownership Fund bidding prospectus provides detailed guidance on the purpose of the fund, eligibility criteria, funding and support assessment criteria and the decision-making process. Please see below for update on round 2.

03/05/2022

Any new ideas or comments please add to our 'New Life for Blockbusters Corner' page. All the previous comments from last year are on this thread, so no need to re-write them. Thanks

The empty shops campaigning is paying off, especially with the Blockbusters building, after six months of letter writing & lobbying at meetings. But we don't want to stop there. This whole corner of Hamlet Court Road & London Road could be something truly amazing! What would you like to see there? Possibly a Market? or a Skills Hub to learn ICT, Catering, Baking, Nutrition, Customer Service etc, pop-up units for people to try out business ideas, plus a multi-use area for events? It would probably need to be a joint effort: with charities, council and private investors involved and of course the current landlord, who has been onsite recently making repairs.

25/04/2022

There's no need to add what you've already suggested as we've collated all your brilliant ideas from last year -we just need someone to put the ideas into practice!

So if you know any community groups, councillors, investors, designers, architects, millionaires ... who would like to get this project off the ground once and for all, please send them this link or email [email protected]

Also, we're looking for sketches, feasibility studies, photos, examples of similar projects to fire up a bit more interest and not let this eyesore get forgotten about for yet another year!

Next I'll upload my own effort at re-imagining what could be at this corner. From this collage I've made a set of limited edition Risograph prints if you'd like one -just please make a donation towards the Westcliff Partnership, so we can continue to celebrate, promote and improve Westcliff-on-Sea https://www.westcliffpartnership.co.uk/raise-funds

25/04/2022

These were posted last year and we're still no closer to getting something done about this eyesore!

Remember this? Back in June we all felt so optimistic about the Blockbuster corner finally being made into something we could be proud of.
100+ of you came up with brilliant ideas including artisan market, skills training, youth hub, multi-use space (see previous details below). Unfortunately the dialogue between the landlord and the organisation we introduced has come to a halt. However, there is hope!

On Zoom next Thursday 25th November 1-2pm there's the first public discussion of the solutions the *Platform programme have been designing to make it easier for community entrepreneurs to access town centre property. *https://www.highstreetstaskforce.org.uk/news/platform-a-town-centre-property-innovation-programme/

You can register for the event for free here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/online-event-unlocking-access-to-town-centre-property-tickets-198445665327

You'll hear from a group of people who’ve been working together to rethink town centre property ownership and access, including:

Frances Northrop. A community entrepreneur and Associate Fellow for NEF, Frances has supported communities around the UK to set up trusts to acquire and manage multiple assets for long-term local benefit

Nalin Seneviratne. Director for City Centre Development at Sheffield City Council, Nalin has overseen large redevelopments that put community organisations at their heart

Theo Michell. Principal at private developer Bywater Property, Theo has piloted a model that gives local people decision-making power over how local spaces are used – and on what terms

They’ll share their ideas for how they might replicate models like these around the country. These ideas are very much a work in progress, and by no means a finished proposal – so they'll be welcoming our questions and feedback.

Please let HCRS know if you are attending or if you have any comments on this subject. Either email us here: [email protected] or comment below

Previous Facebook post 27 June 2021. (other posts 4th & 11th July)
The empty shops campaigning is paying off, especially with the Blockbusters building, after six months of letter writing & lobbying at meetings. But we don't want to stop there. This whole corner of Hamlet Court Road & London Road could be something truly amazing! What would you like to see there? Possibly a Market? or a Skills Hub to learn ICT, Catering, Baking, Nutrition, Customer Service etc, pop-up units for people to try out business ideas, plus a multi-use area for events? It would probably need to be a joint effort: with charities, council and private investors involved and of course the current landlord, who has been onsite recently making repairs.