Having read the latest newsletter from Rochford District residents concerning the proposed local plan for housing etc., I am dumbfounded as to how the council thinks it can
Implement the scheme.
Up to 9000 new houses? In a town that can barely cope with the volume of people and traffic it already has? With the (already) built housing on Hall Road, around Clements Hall and others, the towns infrastructure is in danger of breaking at the seams. Ashingdon Road is already the busiest road in Essex, if not further afield. 9000 houses means a potential for a further 18000 more cars in the area! The roads will not cope.
Apart from the roads, the general infrastructure, sewage, drains, etc., is old and cannot handle any more. The council has already stated that due to already having 33,000 homes in the area, there is not the possibility to vastly improve these systems.
Use public transport we are told. How? When the bus companies seem to be oblivious to the fact that more houses means more passengers. More passengers means more buses are needed. At the moment the trend seems to be to cut timetables. Fewer buses means more people are going to need to use their cars! More congestion!
People moved to or stayed in the area because they like the area. Another 9000 houses means that Rochford will lose its' identity. It will cease to be a 'nice' country town surrounded by countryside where people like to live. It will become a mass metropolis rapidly becoming a grid locked system of car parks!
I hope that everyone involved in this idiotic scheme will see sense, 'put their foot down', and say NO we don't want these extra houses. Don't let us become controlled by faceless government departments that don't live here. WE DO!