We are very concerned to hear about the proposed re-development of Hockley which has been discussed at a town meeting held today. We are not sure how these plans have been circulated to residents, but do know that the vast majority of those attending were also unaware. You may like to know that a councillor was present for a very short period of time reassuring us that he was listening to our concerns and would be passing them onto the relevant personnel at the Council. However, moments later when called back for further discussion, he had apparently left. This did not leave a very good impression with the group.

We understand that there are various options being proposed, so we would like to give you our views: Firstly, we know that there is a suggestion of clearance of the North side of Spa Road and to have a new 'town' square in the middle, with a supermarket three times the size of Somerfields at the Bramerton/Spa Road junction with parking to the rear and a large amount of additional housing. Hockley is a village and therefore its infrastructure, schools, doctors, roads, hospital and transport etc (already at bursting point), is not able to sustain such development.

We also understand that Tesco is interested in having a supermarket in the High Street and has already purchased property nearby. Obviously they will now have a vested interest in driving any development forward, without any consideration for the local community. We are very concerned at the amount of supply lorries that will be using the only road into Hockley, together with the increase in traffic that this supermarket and further residential homes would bring. The roads in this area are already at breaking point. A recent survey found that as many as 15,000 cars pass through each day and therefore any further traffic from new housing or supermarket with deliveries etc would not be a suitable addition to this already overcrowded area. There is only one road coming from Rayleigh into Hockley and there is also speculation of additional traffic from Southend Airport.

We hear that traffic lights have been proposed at the Spa Road junction. This would create a huge tail-back, as the only reason that the current traffic flow is working, is that people are taking their own initiative to ensure that this badly directed route can still safely operate. If traffic lights were put into place, the cars would back up along the already congested Hockley Road as well as in the other directions ie Greensward Lane. This could cause gridlock as far back as the Rochford and Ashingdon areas.

The suggestion of re-directing Woodlands Avenue traffic at peak time to go through Hockley Rise is not a feasible proposition, as traffic is already colossal due to the Westerings School. It is generally extremely difficult to get in and out of Hockley Rise on a daily basis due to the volume of on-coming traffic. The road is quite narrow and there are always cars parked both sides. Also, children use these roads to get to Westerings School, and surely their safety should be paramount before re-directing more cars to a road that is increasingly struggling with traffic flow.

We were appalled to hear that the 30th of April is the closing date for consultation and therefore would hope that more time be provided for the community to air their concerns and any suggestions to be taken into consideration before further plans are submitted.

We do understand that improvements could be made to this area and are open to ideas to improve not destroy Hockley. We welcome your comments and would be a grateful for a copy of the current plans by return of post