Comment
New Local Plan: Spatial Options Document 2021
Representation ID: 39122
Received: 19/09/2021
Respondent: Mrs Gill Hind
Heavy congestion in London Road, Rayleigh High Street, Rayleigh Weir, Carpenters Arms and Fairglen is currently making traffic at a standstill.
No further infrastructure development east of Sadlers Farm despite the area all along the Thames Gateway being expected to be regenerated and excessive amounts of new housing already in place and even more proposed.
Essex is only home county to have no motorway in it. It shares the M11 with Hertfordshire and this only supplies the North and West of Essex - what about the South and the East.
Essex is the only home county without a motorway. We share one with the M11. Other Home Counties have 1 or 2 motorways going through them. South Essex has had little to no major investment in its road network despite being in the London Gateway scheme. The A13 has been developed up to the Sadlers Farm where 4 lanes of traffic are expected to disperse into small local roads or northwards onto A130 (with that rubbish Rayleigh Spur). The infrastructure investment eastwards has basically stopped there at Benfleet/Rayleigh unfortunately the house building hasn’t. The A127 hasn’t been changed for over 70 years. But the amount of housing East of these two places has risen exponentially. The local roads cannot cope. If the A127 is blocked traffic diverts through Rayleigh causing gridlock.
The timing of traffic works (often multiple and lasting too long) on key roads into Rayleigh is not even managed properly by ECC. London Road out of Rayleigh to the East and West is nose to tail traffic all day long, the road from the Carpenters Arms to the Fairglen is solid traffic in rush hour. With development proposal West of Wolsey Park is going to make this bedlam. The new junction onto London Road off Wolsey Park is going to be dire and traffic will not be able to turn right or left.
The proposed new slip road off the A130 and into the road between Carpenters Arms and Fairglen will cause even more back up into Rayleigh and Rawreth because the traffic lights will ensure that nothing from Carpenters Arms can get through to Fairglen.
The lorries coming out of new Michelins Farm will block the roundabout at the Carpenters Arms. This roundabout is too small for large lorries. All traffic from Michelins Farm will have to go through Carpenters Arms. Carpenters Arms and Fairglen floods regularly and so does the Weir underpass. It is just such a bottle neck into the East of Essex. You only need one road to be blocked by an accident and the whole area grinds to a halt. Commuters are getting so angry - people can’t get to work, people can’t get home, businesses can’t get to clients - it is just appalling.