Representation by Barney Sands & Hartridge Ltd (Barney Sands & Hartridge Ltd)
- Date submitted
- 16 March 2021
- Submitted by
- Members of the public/businesses
I am a Director of Barney Sands & Hartridge Limited. We are the owners and occupiers of Unit P1-P2, Lower Rd, Northfleet Industrial Estate, Northfleet, Gravesend DA11 9SN, under a freehold interest. Our property is within the boundary of the London Resort Development Consent Order. If development consent is granted, our property will be subject to compulsory acquisition. We are an Accident Repair Centre, British Kitemark approved, based in a prominent location on Northfleet Industrial Estate. Our site has ample parking for both staff and customers. We have been established since 1938 and have built up our business and reputation through the local community. At present our business is thriving and our main priority is to keep adding to our growing clientele network. Our work is achieved through securing insurance contracts based on postcoded areas. We also have a lot of work coming through the local community who want to have repairs carried out privately. Our business employs 18 staff, the majority of which have stayed loyal to the business for between 15 and 45 years. An upheaval would be detrimental to our business due to loss of insurance contracts, valued customers and staff. We need to remain within the Ebbsfleet and Gravesend area in order to retain both customers and staff. We are concerned that finding a suitable and affordable replacement property will be extremely difficult. The trend over the last five years or so, of the compulsorily acquisition and redevelopment of industrial property for high-density residential purposes, and in this case for leisure purposes, has resulted in a reduction in the supply of affordable industrial property in East London, Essex and Kent. This situation has been exacerbated by an increase in demand for logistics property due to the rise of internet shopping and more recently due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Because of this, industrial values have increased significantly. There is also a diminishing amount of property that is suitable for the businesses that will be displaced if development consent is granted for the London Resort. It seems that little thought has been given to where the many businesses affected by these schemes, and in particular by the London Resort development, will operate from after their premises have been acquired and redeveloped.