Rochford District Council Core Strategy Consultation Response

From A.J. Handfield



1 The Green Belt and Strategic Buffers Between Settlements.

I am concerned about the constant erosion of buffer zones. It's all very well to keep saying that we need the land for this or that but the effect is that the land is being lost for it's existing purposes, and probably lost for a very long time.

The purpose of green space is not always the obvious one e.g. agricultural use is obvious but there are other benefits which are less obvious such as for the well-being of wildlife (not just protected species but all insects, birds and mammals) and visual amenity.

2 General Development Locations.

In my view it is highly unlikely that the proposed development can be accommodated without significant infrastructure problems.

New development is usually permitted, where appropriate, with certain mitigation measures to offset expected new pressures on schools, roads, recreation and/or health facilities. These are usually very focussed. Unfortunately there are very many issues which do not get addressed because of the smaller increments of development. Smaller increments of development result from either (i) smaller development sites or (ii) relative remoteness from a larger development site. The list of infrastructure which suffers from smaller incremental development would include roads, hospitals, shopping centres, public town centre car parks, schools, water supply and waste, energy supply, air quality, solid waste etc. Any of these may benefit from developer contributions where the proposed impact is predicted to be significant but where the development is more remote, contributions are not forthcoming and the stress on the infrastructure increases in numerous small increments.

Roads - New developments used to be required to satisfy the IHT guidelines with regard to traffic generation i.e. any development which had less than a 10% impact on a traffic flow on a junction or road link (5% if congested) would not be required to fund remedial measures. This has been superseded by the latest government recommendations. The Traffic Management Act 2004 requires the Local Traffic Authority to manage traffic and seek to reduce congestion. The DfT "Guidance on Transport Assessment" also supersedes the old IHT guidelines.
It is impossible to mitigate against the traffic impacts on roads further away from a new development site because the impact has reduced to smaller, less quantifiable levels. The road network in the Rochford and Southend areas is however already very congested at peak times and new settlements of the numbers indicated in this draft document will impact quite severely on remote roads and junctions. Nearly everyone who lives in the area is aware of the severe congestion that frequently and regularly occurs at places such as Rayleigh town centre and to a lesser extent Hockley town centre where all the approaches are almost constantly congested at peak times, Eastwood Road which queues heavily at peak times, Progress Road junction with the A127 and Rayleigh Weir whilst not in Rochford district are still used by a lot of the rush hour traffic from Rochford district. The traffic generation from the proposed new settlements will add to this and is therefore unsustainable and undesirable.

Hospitals, dentists, clinics and g.p. surgeries - These suffer in exactly the same way that the road network further away from a development sites suffer from the incremental effects of more remote new developments as explained above. New pressures will be placed on the health service that will not be matched by the necessary increases in capital investment.
Developers are frequently required to provide a new health facility where it is needed to accompany a new housing site but this does not offset the additional stress that is being created for other functions, for example a new g.p. surgery does not address the additional stress being created on hospitals and dentists etc.

Air Quality - The Government has identified air quality improvement as a target in it's "A New Deal For Transport" and other policy documentation. Air quality will undoubtedly suffer as a result of the additional traffic generation and congestion that the new developments will create.

Energy supply and solid waste disposal - New housing development will have an impact on both of these issues since increasing the numbers of households will result in increased energy consumption and waste.
Constructing new houses will involve additional energy consumption and pollution in connection with the original creation of the houses and the materials used therein. If the houses are to be built, the CO2 produced should be offset.

The locations and distribution of proposed development numbers - I object to the enlargement of Rayleigh and Hockley for the reason that the infrastructure cannot cope. I have already described my main reasons for objecting above. There will be other increased pressures resulting from the new settlements such as on existing town centre car parks which I find unacceptable.

If additional housing has to be accepted in the district, it seems more sensible to me to enlarge Hullbridge creating a new town rather than the distribution described in the draft Core Strategy. New highway links could be created or existing ones could be upgraded much more easily, public transport could easily be improved (not rail, of course) and cycling infrastructure could be provided. Hullbridge has the potential to become a very desirable location in view of it's riverside rural setting, with a full range of housing provision.

Affordable Housing - I am pleased to see the intention to provide for gypsy and traveller needs through mainstream housing, and support that strategy.

Accommodation Type - No mention is made in the draft Core Strategy of the types of accommodation that are to be provided. It is essential for the general living quality of a community to ensure that the full mix of accommodation is provided. I would object to any proposal to build many small flats or one bedroom houses.
A method for arriving at an accommodation mix should be specified in the Core Strategy.