Object
Issues and Options Document
Representation ID: 34903
Received: 20/02/2018
Respondent: mr john surgett
RDC have not assessed, previously, any of the alternatives in terms of major impacts and sustainability especially in connection with the Malyons site in Hullbridge and all the other major developments recently completed or under construction locally, we therefore have no confidence that this will change in any future emerging new Local Plan for this district. RDC need to take into account the health of the individual communities, overcrowding and further drains on the existing infrastructure.
We feel that the majority of the indicated sites are Green Belt and are not sustainable for the following reasons:-
In connection with health of the community the NPPF states that health and well being & health infrastructure should be considered in any Local Plan and also the NPPG states that local Planning Authorities should ensure that the health and well being, including health infrastructure are considered in local and neighbourhood plans and in planning decision making.
But once again this has already been totally ignored by RDC especially in connection with the proposed Rawreth/Hullbridge sites. On the western side of the Hullbridge site on the boundary between Rawreth/Hullbridge sites next to CFS149, approximately in the centre there are three existing Telecommunication Masts together with an additional mast at the rear of site CFS100.
According to the Guide to Mobile Phone Masts, independent scientists and doctors, these are a major health hazard. Cancer clusters have been found around Mobile Phone Masts up to 400m from a mast, which in these cases would encompass the majority of any proposed dwellings around these sites. People living near each other and close to a mast have ended up with rare cancers at nearly the same time as each other. This has already been the case in Devon, Lincolnshire & Staffordshire. Many doctors are now so concerned that they have all signed a petition to demand that the Government take these health concerns over Mobile Phone Masts seriously.
In connection with key health issues, forecasts suggest that the number of people aged over 85 in the district will increase in the future. An ageing and additional population has the potential to increase pressures on healthcare services in the district. We do not agree that any future developments will not result in increased pressure on existing primary healthcare these need to be fully addressed not just by developers making financial contributions, which are totally inadequate, and which in its self does not solve the shortage of doctors, nurses, dentists. hospital beds and appointment waiting times. Actions are required by RDC to address any negative impacts identified through the Health Impact Assessment before any possible development site is put forward in the Local Plan.