Although I have already sent you comments on behalf of Hockley Parish Plan Group, I would now like to register my own comments as a resident of Hockley:

The Core Strategy proposes to add 1,550 new homes on Greenbelt land in the pleasant semi-rural region comprising Hockley, Hawkwell, Ashingdon and Rochford, plus a further undefined number of homes on brownfield sites, and a further undefined number of homes in the Hockley and Rochford town centre developments. The new homes will reduce the open spaces between these parishes, closing the boundaries, and leading to the loss of their individual community identities.

Residents enjoy living (and retiring) in this region. However, the infrastructure of the area is already stretched in terms of roads, public transport, parking, schools, community services, and healthcare. The Core Strategy proposal gives very little detail of infrastructure improvements to support the increased population and traffic. It provides no details of costs or responsibilities for infrastructure implementation. By spreading the locations of new homes, it will be more difficult to ensure that developers incorporate and pay for new infrastructure.

Although average daily traffic on the B1013 is stated to be only 72% of the maximum capacity, there are no figures available that highlight the current congestion in peak periods, where traffic is almost at a standstill. Unless significant highways development is introduced, especially in the vicinity of the Spa roundabout, the additional traffic resulting from the Core Strategy proposed homes in Rochford and Hawkwell, will create gridlock. Proposed Southend Airport development will add further traffic problems through Hockley. The Core Strategy is not sustainable without a solution to the highway network bottlenecks in and around Hockley. No solution is provided to the lack of cycle path networks in the region.

The bus service in the Hockley and Hawkwell region is about to be cut back, but will need to be increased to support the additional number of residents proposed in the Core Strategy. Agreements with Arriva must be included to make the Strategy viable.

Car parks in Hockley are regularly overfull creating queues especially in Spa Road. Exits from the car parks in Spa Road are hazardous and will one day inevitably lead to a serious accident. Space in Hockley town centre is at a premium, but additional and safer car parking is essential to support the proposed additional traffic, or again the Core Strategy is not sustainable.

The Core Strategy includes new primary schools in Rochford and Rayleigh and an extension to King Edmund secondary school, but there is no proposal for additional school places in Hockley and Hawkwell. I assume that the majority of additional younger children in the Hawkwell region will go to Westerings School, where the roads in the locality are already a hazard during the 'school runs' where mothers drop off and pick up their children. Local residents regularly have to weave between cars and drive on pavements to avoid a collision. Without major improvements to the road networks in this region, the increased numbers of cars will undoubtedly cause havoc and lead to accidents. There are no proposals in the Strategy to accommodate additional secondary school children at Greensward College, which is the nearest school for Hawkwell West.

Community Services such as crime prevention, street cleaning, waste collection and road maintenance are already stretched, and will not be able to cope with the additional homes without a considerable increase to their budgets. It is unlikely that increased Council Tax revenue from the additional population will support the extra costs.

Doctor and dentist to patient ratios are currently unacceptable for residents in Hockley and would need to improve significantly to support the additional number of residents.

In conclusion, although many of these obstacles can be overcome with possibly cost effective justification, the necessary changes to highway networks and car parking in and around Hockley to support additional traffic volumes are massive, and probably not feasible due to cost and space limitations, leading to the Core Strategy not being sustainable in Hockley and the surrounding area.