CFS 015 should be made available for housing, as under a balanced approach to strategy options, the small/ medium size of the site, combined with the more rural nature, would offer secure and immediate housing completions at the start to medium term of the new Local Plan period. To further this, CFS 015 has been put forward for 100% affordable provision, which would drastically help the community needs of Hullbridge by providing some of the district’s most vulnerable people with new homes.

CFS 015 (Land at the junction between Lower Road and Hullbridge Road) is currently within the greenbelt boundary, so an application to amend the greenbelt boundary or bring the site forward as a rural exception site with 100% affordable housing would be made.

However, the site’s current function and purpose within the greenbelt has been scrutinised for many years. In 2005, a letter was sent from the Secretary of State following two successive Local Plan reviews concluding that inner greenbelt boundaries contained many errors. The letter in question from the SoS requested that CFS 015 be released form the greenbelt for residential development due to its limited role towards the greater function of the greenbelt.

As per paragraph 138 of the NPPF (2021), the five purposes of the greenbelt are below.

(a) To check the unrestricted sprawl of large built-up areas – There is an approved development of 500 dwellings on the opposite side of Lower Road, with smaller residential areas along the same side of Lower Road.
(b) To prevent neighbouring towns merging – Hullbridge Road and Lower Road acts as a physical barrier for further development.
(c) To assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment – as per point a.
(d) To preserve the setting and special character of historic towns – the nearest historic/ listed buildings are within Vicarage farm, Hockley or Kingsman Farmhouse (all of which are over a mile away), which will have little bearing from the site as there is a lot of built form between them.
(e) To assist in urban regeneration, by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land – Although the site is not a brownfield site, the site is derelict and has been left to overgrow, performing no community benefit. The regeneration of this site, in context with the already developed residential neighbours, could offer the community several benefits compared to its current state.

To add to this, this site could promote sustainable development if it were to be allocated for residential development, through the use of a bus service, walking and cycle routes.