WALTHAM ABBEY: Sun street facelift to be debated by district council this week (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

WALTHAM ABBEY: Sun street facelift to be debated by district council this week

5:21pm Monday 6th July 2009 in

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Ambitious plans to give Sun Street a facelift, which have been welcomed by traders, will be discussed by the district council's planning committee this wednesday (July 8).

The Di Piazza family has applied for planning permission to refurbish three derelict shops in Sun Street, to create two new retail units at the rear of the site looking onto Darby Drive, and to build nine residential one and two bedroom apartments above the shops.

The council's planning officers have advised that the development should be granted, in hopes that the new units will help boost the areas flagging footfall.

Darren Barthram, 35, the owner of Oddjobs Hardware, which is next door to the empty shops, said: "It has been like that since I moved here five years ago, and at the moment it is just a sitting target for vandals.

"So this can only be a good thing. Most of my customers are in their 70s or 80s, so I would hope the new flats would bring some younger people here because I think the area really needs some new blood."

Julie Hopwood, who works at Abbey Fruits, said: "At the moment it is just a derelict shop so this would definitely be an improvement."