POLICY ED4 OBJECTION

Lubards Lodge Farm Mixed Employment and Residential Development Option

1. We object to the exclusion of the land to the north of Rayleigh, at Lubbards Lodge Farm, from policy ED4. Whirledge & Nott made a call for sites submission for this site on behalf of the owners, Messrs Pinkerton. This representation relates to the same area of land.

2. Lubards Lodge Farm, extending to about 40 hectares overall, provides an excellent
opportunity to create a sustainable urban extension by building a mixed and integrated
development providing housing, employment, leisure and community facilities, whilst reinforcing a strategic undeveloped gap to ensure the permanent separation of Rayleigh and Hullbridge.

3. Development north of Rayleigh would be the least damaging option for the town in landscape impact terms. The land south of London Road, Rayleigh is highly visible from the A1245 and A127, whereas the land at Lubards Lodge Farm, which dips sharply northwards from Rawreth Lane, is not visible from major roads.

4. A legal undertaking would be offered to ensure that about 16 hectares of land towards
the northern end of Lubards Lodge Farm were reserved in perpetuity partly for open leisure uses and partly for extensive woodland planting. This, together with the existing golf course to the east of Hullbridge Road, would provide a very effective landscaped buffer between the two settlements ensuring their permanent separation in accordance with the aims of Green Belt policy.

5. Lubards Lodge Farm contains an existing vibrant employment area of 3.5 hectares on
a rectangular site on the western side of Hullbridge Road, about 450m north of its
junction with Rawreth Lane. This site presently consists of a large number of former farm
buildings of various shapes and sizes and has gradually become established over the years as an important reservoir of premises for local start up businesses. Before releasing green field land for employment development the potential for redevelopment and new development within the confines of the existing Lubards Lodge Farm employment site should be realised. This would have the following advantages:-

• Existing relatively unattractive buildings could be adapted or redeveloped to improve the appearance of the site.

• Established businesses would have greater potential for expansion on their existing
sites.

• New buildings could be constructed on existing underused but previously developed land within the framework of the existing employment area.

6. The existing employment area could accommodate part of the employment growth
identified in policy ED2 and could also provide the anchor for an expanded employment
area to the south, which could accommodate the balance of the estimated employment
growth requirement.

7. This would create an Employment Park superior to the current preferred option south
of London Road, Rayleigh as it would be closely integrated with the existing employment
area to the north and with the proposed housing development occupying the fields to the
west and south up to Rawreth Lane. These fields have an area of about 18 hectares, capable of accommodating 540 dwellings at 30 dph. The appropriate balance between employment and housing land could be debated, but this option offers the potential to integrate new employment with new housing effectively to create a genuinely sustainable community, unlike the distinct housing and employment site options being considered west of Rayleigh.

8. In transport terms the site would be 1.5kms from Rayleigh station and could be integrated into the town's public transport network. New footpath and cycle routes would be developed, not only within the urban extension, but also linking across Rawreth Lane and Hullbridge Road into the existing urban area, by tunnel or bridge or both. These new links would have the added benefit of bringing the open countryside to the north, especially the area of open leisure uses suggested as part of this proposal, within easier
reach of the existing resident population of Rayleigh. Some upgrading of the junctions of
Rawreth Lane/ Hullbridge Road and Rawreth Lane/A1245 would be desirable and could
be funded from these proposals.