Homeowners object to highway order ahead of potential office redevelopment

A group of homeowners are opposing plans to close parts of the public highway around their homes ahead of a potential nearby office redevelopment.

A ‘stopping up’ order has been submitted to the Department for Transport which, if granted, would lead to the closure of ‘11 irregular shaped areas of highway’ between Providence Place and St Mary’s Walk.

These measures are being sought as part of a major office redevelopment plan in St Mary’s Walk which could see the ageing Sierra House building demolished and replaced with an eight-storey office complex.

But a group of 11 leaseholders from the nearby flats block in St Mary’s Walk say the planned highway closures could restrict their access to their fire escape, which uses part of Sierra House, as well as a communal bin area.

A letter to the Department for Transport, co-signed by the St Mary’s Walk residents, said: “The proposed closures may negatively affect the public realm and reduce the ability of the residents of St Mary’s Walk to go about their lives in a normal manner that they have been able to do for the last 49 years, particularly Providence Place and St Mary’s Walk, which are important pedestrian routes for the residents.”

Developer Derno Estates, part of the Freshwater Group, is behind the plans to knock down the ageing Sierra House office building – which has been unused for 15 years.

But there is a wider issue of whether the apartments in St Mary’s Walk, which are connected to Sierra House, should be included in the proposed redevelopment.

The Freshwater Group owns the freehold to the apartments and Nigel Taylor, owner of one of the flats, is calling for the apartment block to be part of the redevelopment plans.

He said: “It’s the same age, it was built at the same time, it has exactly the same issues. My flat is unliveable and water pours in every time it rains.

“There’s 11 apartments and all are of the same opinion that all of this should go, not just Sierra House.”

Mr Taylor said the condition of the properties and looming office redevelopment is making the properties difficult to sell.

Andrew Thomson, commercial manager at the Freshwater Group, described the areas of the highway which are subject to the stopping up order as ‘peripheral’ and said the current walking routes through St Mary’s walk would be unaffected.

He said a fire strategy for the new development has been carried out which has determined the existing fire escape from the St Mary’s Walk flats is compliant with regulations.

A new bin store for St Mary’s Walk residents is also planned as part of the new office redevelopment, he added.

He said a tendering process is currently being carried out to look at fixing long-standing issues at the St Mary’s Walk apartments but there are no plans to include them in the wider redevelopment.

“It wasn’t financially viable to acquire all the flats and under the planning requirements we’d have to put flats back again,” Mr Thomson said.