Rayleigh is not able to sustain any more major development. The current sprawl means that accessing services (school, healthcare, shops etc) in Rayleigh requires car ownership and making this area larger will make congestion even worse. Getting in and out of Rayleigh is dire and this is going to strangle the businesses that are currently there. Town centre car parking is being given over parking for flatted developments which again suffocates local business. There is no provision for cycle lanes (narrow roads and steep hills make this an unacceptable option for many cyclists) and no subsidy for electric bikes, bike parking in the high street or bike charging. There should be cycle paths from Rayleigh Centre to Rayleigh Leisure Centre. There should be cycle paths all round Rayleigh to ease congestion. Flatted developments do not providing charging points for electric vehicles.

Rayleigh High Street is the only place in the district to have poor air quality and reducing green lung space within and around this town will be severely detrimental to the health and wellbeing of its residents. It has been subjected to unsustainable town centre cramming. It is the most densely populated of all the towns in Rochford District and it is not the only town to have a station in it (Hockley, Rochford).

Rayleigh needs more open space to help address the poor air quality (so especially in the centre), more healthcare provision (there has been no increase in healthcare provision despite all the house building that has taken place in the last 30-40 years). Rayleigh needs a swimming pool so people didn’t have to drive to Hadleigh, Benfleet, Southend, Wickford, South Woodham Ferrers or Hawkwell. For a major town with over 50% of the population not having a swimming pool is unbelievable. A cinema would be great (Burnham on Crouch has one). It needs a decent community centre (like the size of Mill Hall) that is run properly and for the benefit of the community and not passed over to an incompetent sports facility company that don’t know how to manage it.

Building on the Rayleigh Mill site is an absolute no-no. A community this size needs a venue of this size. It needs to be managed properly and for the benefit of the local community. We don’t need any more town centre developments.