I have addressed the questions posed in the document as best I can in the limited amount of time available. The reason that I have too little time is the totally inadequate consultation process. I only found out about it by chance. I have spoken to my neighbours and many friends in the village and none of them were aware of it either. If you had properly consulted local residents I strongly believe that your proposals would be completely different. As things stand I strongly object to all of them. None of them are sustainable. All would damage the character of the village and make the village a traffic nightmare. Please see the attached sheet that I typed for specific answers.

You need to hold a proper transparent consultation process before proceeding further.

Addressing the main questions regarding the Hockley action plan consultation document.

P23 The main issues should be:

(a) a modest redevelopment of shopping facilities in keeping with the character of the village
(b) better facilities for teenage members of the community

p25 This question is based on the East of England Plan. This was drawn up by an unelected quango a the behest of central government. The minister responsible, Margaret Beckett has recently acknowledged that changing economic circumstances will mean that government targets are now unachievable. You should no longer be blindly focused on these arbitrary housing targets, the fulfilment of which will significantly increase the population of our village. This will result in further overstretch of infrastructure and increased traffic congestion. This is not a sustainable option.

P28 This question is based on a false premise. Hockley is a village, not a town. A town scale development is inappropriate and fundamentally changes the character of our village. This is what attracted me and many other residents to settle here. In addition there is a fundamental flaw in the idea of moving parking away from the village centre. The convenience of close convenient parking is important to the health of local businesses. The idea of making a remote car park (railway station), might well suit Southend-on-Sea, but that is a real town.

P39 I do not have a preferred option as I do not consider any of them in the interests of local residents and businesses. The central theme of all of them is that of a new supermarket and would appear to be the only likely winner in any of the options presented. The junction of Bramerton Road and Spa Road is already congested at peak time. The new supermarket would ensure that grid lock is a permanent feature. This junction is very close to the Spa roundabout, which would be controlled by traffic lights with the resulting queues starting well before the exist to Bramerton Road. A supermarket in the proposed location would also be likely to hurt local businesses who are an important part of our community.

P47 The present Spa roundabout is congested at peak times. Whilst this can be inconvenient, the alternative is even more unpalatable. One of the key lessons of the last 40 years of road engineering is that increasing capacity does have a very temporary positive effect, before traffic volumes increase with all of the negative environmental effects. It is important to consider developments at the nearby Southend airport. It would be very unwise to make Hockley more attractive to heavy increasing airport traffic. Consider this together with the points that I have made in the previous question. Furthermore the one way option regarding Woodlands would direct significant traffic volumes up unsuitable roads such as Hockley Rise. The access junction at the brow of a hill is not suitable and roads are already in a poor state of repair.

P47 Regarding Southend Road. This is already a main road, but significantly increasing the volume of traffic would not be sustainable.

P48 This is already a difficult junction, with its proximity to the railway bridge. No development should encourage more traffic at this point.