In recent weeks local residents would have noticed a lot of activity occurring at the Cement Hill site in Seacliff Park.
This
work is the beginning of the large scale redevelopment of the site,
something that has been many years in the making and which has a history
littered with false starts and disappointments!
Since 2011, work has been slowly progressing to re-zone Cement Hill’s
planning status from industrial to residential, with some land also set
aside for a small shopping centre. This has been a painfully slow
process, riven by bureaucracy, but finally things are moving.
The site is now being cleared of its derelict buildings (and its
iconic cement towers) in preparation for major earthworks which will see
the removal of low level contaminants from the site (something that is
inevitable on old industrial land). Plans are being negotiated for a new
road to be constructed to take trucks from the nearby quarry to the
south and away from Brighton Road.
In the coming months, as the final stage of the re-zoning process, a public meeting will be held
to give local residents the opportunity to provide their views on the
proposed redevelopment. A date has not been set for this yet, but I will
keep residents up-to-date when I know more details.
The re-zoning of Cement Hill has been a drawn out process, but fingers crossed we are almost there.