A garden centre site with a number of businesses, including a dog groomer, a gallery and gift shop business, a tattooist and others is set to be transformed into 90 homes, with a developer preparing to submit plans to the council.

Arebray Development Consultants has launched a public consultation into the proposals for Alpha Garden Centre, London Road, Wickford. The online consultation states the site could see either 76 homes and 16 apartments, or 76 homes and 17 apartments.

The garden centre business has closed down in recent years but plans show if the development does go ahead all the other businesses at the site would leave the site.

The site includes the following businesses: Gallerie Schmetterling, Sacred Skin, Skinners Sheds, The Lillies Café, Doggie Styles Grooming Spa and Boutique and others. The consultation includes layout options for the development. 

Bosses of the site insist they "hope to avoid" any businesses having to close as a result of these proposals and they intend to give them a long notice period.

The consultation site states: "Contributions will be made via a S106 agreement to pay for any upgrades required to local infrastructure such as schools and healthcare to ensure the development contributes. 

"These two sketch layouts have been selected as being the most likely form we will take forward to the next stage of design. These layouts incorporate affordable housing and the housing mix, number of bedrooms, and requirements of the local authority. This mix calls for a larger percentage of smaller family homes so there will be fewer detached and very large properties on the site. The main difference between the two layouts is the position of the internal roads."

Arebray Development Consultants is a development-focused firm of chartered surveyors that specialises in providing specific and professional advice to developers and landowners.

A spokesman for Arebray Development Consultants said: "Alpha Garden Centre is progressing with the planning application themselves as they want to ensure it is of a high quality and a legacy for them. They have owned and developed the garden centre since 1978.

"We have started consulting with the public very early in the process and as such the scheme is in the very early stages of design. We are only at a hand sketch stage at the moment, but I can confirm that we are having pre-application discussions with Basildon Council.

"The number of homes is likely to be lower with fewer flats than shown on our initial plans, following both the pre-application discussions and from comments made over the last week in our consultation. Our proposals would include affordable housing and section 106 contributions to pay for upgrading local infrastructure.

"Alpha Garden Centre sincerely hope to avoid any businesses having to close as a result of these proposals, my clients have agonised over this and as a consequence, they intend to give them a long notice period; should they be successful in achieving a planning approval. As a result, this would give their tenants ample opportunity to find alternative premises.

"We anticipate submitting a planning application later this year and an update to the consultation website will be made in September as the scheme evolves. We welcome any comments that people might have, to make the scheme as good as it can be and meet the housing needs of the town and borough."

You can comment on the plans at: https://www.development-consultation.info/development-proposals/