Section Four. The Green Belt and Strategic Buffers between Settlements.


The CSPOD does not contain any clear justification, which demonstrates a need for Strategic Buffers in the Green Belt, however, that evidence may emerge before the Regulation 27 submission stage and therefore we reserve our position with respect to this matter.

The Council at paragraph 4.5.10 of the CSPOD accepts that if the growth is to be achieved, then there will need to be a compromise between urban intensification and Green Belt releases. The compromise is stated as edge of settlement allocations. Rochford district is entirely washed over by a Green Belt designation and as such an edge of settlement release, will mean a Green Belt release. The broad allocations identified in the CSPOD for Rayleigh (1800 units) and Hockley/Hawkwell (400 units) involve settlements, where it is proposed that Strategic Buffers are required to protect against settlement coalescence. At the present time, the urban capacity of these settlements is unknown and therefore, the CSPOD should recognise that there is a potential conflict between the rational for Strategic Buffers and the likely need to find land on the edge of these settlements to accommodate growth targeted in Rayleigh and or Hockley/Hawkwell. The CSPOD can avoid this conflict by allocating a greater proportion of the required growth to land east of Rochford/Ashingdon where the Council recognise that the need for a Strategic Buffer is unnecessary and where a number of opportunities exist to accommodate growth on sustainable sites, which will have a minimal impact on the Green Belt in the Rochford district.