Object
Allocations DPD Discussion and Consultation Document
Representation ID: 22269
Received: 29/04/2010
Respondent: Mr and Mrs O'Donoghue
Number of people: 4
We attended the parish council meeting that was organised at Ashingdon Memorial Hall on Monday 19th April and was dismayed to see that more of our beautiful local green belt was going to be eaten up by housing development. I can appreciate that King Edmund School requires additional space for development and that your hands are somewhat tied in respect of having to provide land as part of the regional development authority's instigating, but we really cannot see why this should be at the expense of blatant development on green belt, which will result in a massive cost to the local community and its future generations, as our heritage is destroyed.
In fact, I note with some alarm that the council , as part of its core strategy, mentions 100 dwellings in East Ashingdon by 2015, but the plan put forward by Andrew Martin Associates on behalf of its clients talks about 150 dwellings - which will in all probability require the use of land both sides of Brays Lane. I really believe that if we are forced to use green belt lane, that we should limit development to the area south of Brays Lane and 100 dwellings.
Andrew Martin Associates have included two football pitches in their planning, even though the school already has five football pitches - how many do they really need at one time! Anyway, if these were put on the land at the end of Oxford Road, one of the options (Option EA1 page 31 of the land allocation document), then this would allow all 100 dwellings (which the council should ensure is the maximum number!) to be built on the south side, next to the school (option EA1 page 31 of the land allocation document). The significance of this is that it would allow the land north of Brays Lane to be kept within the green belt boundary and therefore safe from building development, with Brays Lane as the natural boundary with resultant less negative impact on wildlife plus the flora and fauna thereon.
If all 100 dwellings were kept to the south side, this would mean that there would only need to be one additional access road off of Brays Lane, not two. This is an important consideration because there is already a danger to other road and pedestrian users due to the use by HGV traffic viz a viz Baltic Wharf, etc, and this must be a major concern for the school in terms of risk of serious injury to its pupils.
We cannot see how any major building development of this size will improve the already congested roads, particularly the Ashingdon Road. More to the point, how can it not seriously worsen traffic conditions, especially at peak times? In itself, this should raise serious safety concerns from planners, the school and local parents, many of whom already send their children to King Edmund School. I do not believe that any serious study of traffic by Essex County Council could come up with the conclusion that the additional traffic that will result from this development will be "accommodated" that is unless gridlock at peak times is regarded as being acceptable.
Whilst we accept that we need to improve our local school's facilities for the sake of pupils and we do need to provide some land for building, the council must also accept that the surrounding area in which people live must play a significant role in their lives and future development. We need to minimise green belt usage, allowing future generations to enjoy what past generations have also enjoyed. Let's restrict the negative impact by limiting development to the area south of Brays Lane and restrict greedy land developers from destroying our heritage.
We attended the parish council meeting that was organised at Ashingdon Memorial Hall on Monday 19th April and was dismayed to see that more of our beautiful local green belt was going to be eaten up by housing development. I can appreciate that King Edmund School requires additional space for development and that your hands are somewhat tied in respect of having to provide land as part of the regional development authority's instigating, but we really cannot see why this should be at the expense of blatant development on green belt, which will result in a massive cost to the local community and its future generations, as our heritage is destroyed.
In fact, I note with some alarm that the council , as part of its core strategy, mentions 100 dwellings in East Ashingdon by 2015, but the plan put forward by Andrew Martin Associates on behalf of its clients talks about 150 dwellings - which will in all probability require the use of land both sides of Brays Lane. I really believe that if we are forced to use green belt lane, that we should limit development to the area south of Brays Lane and 100 dwellings.
Andrew Martin Associates have included two football pitches in their planning, even though the school already has five football pitches - how many do they really need at one time! Anyway, if these were put on the land at the end of Oxford Road, one of the options (Option EA1 page 31 of the land allocation document), then this would allow all 100 dwellings (which the council should ensure is the maximum number!) to be built on the south side, next to the school (option EA1 page 31 of the land allocation document). The significance of this is that it would allow the land north of Brays Lane to be kept within the green belt boundary and therefore safe from building development, with Brays Lane as the natural boundary with resultant less negative impact on wildlife plus the flora and fauna thereon.
If all 100 dwellings were kept to the south side, this would mean that there would only need to be one additional access road off of Brays Lane, not two. This is an important consideration because there is already a danger to other road and pedestrian users due to the use by HGV traffic viz a viz Baltic Wharf, etc, and this must be a major concern for the school in terms of risk of serious injury to its pupils.
We cannot see how any major building development of this size will improve the already congested roads, particularly the Ashingdon Road. More to the point, how can it not seriously worsen traffic conditions, especially at peak times? In itself, this should raise serious safety concerns from planners, the school and local parents, many of whom already send their children to King Edmund School. I do not believe that any serious study of traffic by Essex County Council could come up with the conclusion that the additional traffic that will result from this development will be "accommodated" that is unless gridlock at peak times is regarded as being acceptable.
Whilst we accept that we need to improve our local school's facilities for the sake of pupils and we do need to provide some land for building, the council must also accept that the surrounding area in which people live must play a significant role in their lives and future development. We need to minimise green belt usage, allowing future generations to enjoy what past generations have also enjoyed. Let's restrict the negative impact by limiting development to the area south of Brays Lane and restrict greedy land developers from destroying our heritage.