The submission document fails the test of soundness for policy H3 in terms of not being justified. The policy is not founded on a robust and credible evidence base and it is not the most appropriate strategy when considered against reasonable alternatives of allocating sufficient housing in the tier 1 category town of Rayleigh which meets the Council's sustainability criteria. Furthermore Policy H3 of the Submission DPD is not considered to be sufficiently flexible to deal with any changes to the RSS by being reliant on less sites and again fails the test on flexibility grounds. See accompanying Strutt and Parker Planning Document and Cannon Consulting Initial Highways Access and Accessibility Statement.

(Council ref AE27 and AE27a)

The change required to the DPD to make Policy H3 sound is for the inclusion of the site to the south west of Rayleigh for at least 100 houses in the plan period.

Representation submitted in relation to proposed allocation of housing to the south west of Rayleigh and attendance required at examination to support the allocation of this site which is not in the submission document (see other responses to Core Strategy).