I am writing to strongly protest about the planned building of 550 new homes on agricultural green belt land north of London Road, Rayleigh.

I believe, once we encrouch on these areas we will loose our unique (and cherished) identities as individual communities and end up as one large cosmopolitan area merging Rayleigh, Rawreth and Wickford. There are other options.

I believe the proposal to re-locate the Rawreth Industrial estate and make the site a residential area makes absolute sense as this site is next to a current residential area. The re-employment of the Industrial estate to the junction of the A1245 and A127 being the most practical option. I would suggest that the current EON site, which will no longer be in use after June 2010, could also be redeveloped into a residential site as this currently sits within a residential area. The previously used land on the A1245 in Rawreth is also an option.

Within Rayleigh itself, for every one house that is demolished three or four are erected in its place. In the past the council have justified this by stating that it will help avoid having to use green belt land to meet housing requirements. Another concern is the impact on the current infrastructure. Can our roads, railway station, schools, doctors, dentists cope with such a large number of additional residents?

Given the above, I do not believe the council are justified in proposing housing development on the green belt.