The proposal in the Rochford Core Strategy (this is the RDC Policy for local development) for this many houses in the Ward of Hawkwell West is UNSOUND because the vital requirements of PPS12 (this is the Government's Planning Policy) are not met in terms of sustainability, and therefore, the location of Hawkwell West (South Hawkwell) should be removed by The Inspector and the allocation moved to a sustainable location. In summary the reasons that development in this location is unsustainable under PPS12 are as follows:

Regarding the proposed 175 new homes for Hawkwell, Essex.

As residents of Hawkwell and knowing the traffic problems we endure on a daily basis, the increase in housing will cause heavy congestion especially with the limited public transport in our area, also the inability to improve the highways. The distance from the shops and the railway station will cause the new inhabitants to use their cars.

Our semi rural location is completely unsuitable for such a large development resulting in a loss of character. We will lose even more green belt and wild life. Later with the inability of other countries to provide our country with food this land will be needed for agriculture.

This development will leave our community with no social, economic or environmental benefits whatsoever.

In addition the Core Strategy is UNSOUND because it does not fulfil the principles that are expressly stated in the Core Strategy as it relates to the proposal for Hawkwell. Please see the following:

The Core Strategy talks about protecting the character of existing settlements and specifically 'seeks to take advantage of development opportunities that will provide social, economic and environmental benefits'. No such benefits would apply to this location and development would be materially detrimental to the character of the existing settlement in Hawkwell West. It also states 'there is a limit to how much infilling and intensification existing settlements can sustain without their character being adversely affected'. This limit has already been exceeded in Hawkwell West.

The Core Strategy says 'locate development in areas where alternatives to car use are more viable', 'reduce the requirement to travel', and accompany any development with requisite highway infrastructure to 'mitigate their impact on the existing network'. It is not possible to do this in Hawkwell West as there is no space for development of local roads, especially in Rectory Road, and any development here would increase the requirement to travel, especially by car. Moving on to Public Transport the Core Strategy states that 'planning should be well related to existing public transport where possible'. There is just one bus to and from Southend/Rayleigh per hour with no prospect of Arriva providing an appropriate service in the long term.

Finally such a large scale development would lead to an unwelcome strip coalescence of built settlements, which is not in line with Council policy.