With regard to the Hockley Area Action Plan, the traffic congestion on the B1013 will become even more critical with the proposed extension of Southend Airport. As we have previously stated, possible traffic improvements (which will be needed if the proposed developments in Hockley and Hawkwell also go ahead), will not solve the congestion problem.

In our opinion, the only options are the following:

A) Straighten out and widen existing winding (ex country) roads such as the
B1013, or build a bypass for Hockley and Hawkwell. In both cases this is
unrealistic economically (properties which have to be compulsory purchased,
and where are the displaced residents going to go?), or taking the bypass
through open spaces (such as Hockley Woods/Jubilee Park).

B) Discourage people from using cars. One way of doing this is by drastically improving public transport (again, not realistic since bus services still aren't good enough despite "improvements"). SERT has been mentioned as the only specific plan regarding improvements of public transport, but it does not touch Hawkwell nor Hockley.

Another way to discourage car use is to improve and build more connecting,
properly sign-posted cycle paths and walkways (most existing cycle paths
and walkways don't connect with each other and need local knowledge to know
that they even exist) that are designed to be used safely by both cyclists
and pedestrians (rather than a half-hearted way to get cyclists off the
roads), while encouraging the use and sale of bicycles (for example by
using the Cycle2Work tax-exempt scheme).