Having viewed the online Spatial Options Consultation I am writing to make my feelings and opinions known to you.

We are all aware that there is a housing shortage in this country and that there is an urgent need for affordable housing around the entire country. However, seeing the quotas which the Westminster government are insisting be shouldered by this area and the rest of Essex, there is no question we are being expected to shoulder an unfair and unreasonable share of the burden, due to our convenient proximity to London. Since the government have committed to ‘Levelling Up’ the country I consider this most hypocritical. The South East is already far too congested, our infrastructure in terms of roads, schools and hospitals is at bursting point and there is no doubt that expanding infrastructure in the area will not keep pace with the proposed expansion.

Your Vision Statement for Wakering:
In 2050, the Wakerings and Barling should have retained their rural village character and sense of relative tranquillity. More services should have developed locally to reduce its reliance on neighbouring towns, whilst any new services introduced should be located so that those located on the edges of the settlement are able to access them sustainably. The villages should have become more self-sufficient when it comes to homes, jobs and community facilities, including education. Development that takes place should be locally-responsive and aimed at meeting the ongoing housing and employment needs of local residents.

It is obvious that it is impossible to live up to this statement and at the same time press forward with the level of development proposed in the Rochford area.

At the moment Wakering and Barling are beautiful rural villages. However if an area so close to Southend and London has not been developed more in the past, we can assume there are solid reasons and that the land here does not offer a friendly environment for too much housing. We are on the Creek, close to marshland and with rainfall predicted to rise due to climate change it is imperative the water table is maintained to prevent serious flooding. This means leaving open land for adequate drainage not only for proposed developments but for the residents already in situ. The current roads are single lane and many of the residents have to park street side because older houses do not have off road parking. This reduces traffic flow still further for most of the time (Little Wakering Rd is particularly susceptible to this.)

Much of the proposed building would be on currently agricultural land. It may well be that the encumbant farmers are tempted to sell up and retire on the proceeds but whereas this may suit them individually it would be criminally negligent of the authorities to allow this land to switch use because once it has done so, it will never return to the original purpose. We are living in times of global upheaval. Brexit means the UK will have to consider producing far more of our own food if we are to maintain present standards of living at minimal cost. Furthermore, combatting climate change (already officially recognised as affecting Britain) means we need to be sourcing food locally as possible and paying far more attention to ecology and our wildlife. Destroying the agricultural benefits of Wakering would be cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

I will finish by pointing out that one of the main ways to access Wakering is via Shopland, which feeds into Sutton Rd and thus into Ashingdon Rd. It is no secret that the traffic flow in these areas is close to gridlock for a lot of the time and further traffic feeding in from the Wakering area would be unworkable.

I am aware that Basildon and Southend councils are lodging objections and resisting the pressures from government to overdevelop their respective areas. It is obvious if they are successful the onus will simply be slope shouldered and further pressure put on surrounding councils like Rochford. Please, stand up for our area and join them in resisting these directives. The greenbelt was conceived for a reason and I can think of no time when we have needed to commit to this principle more!

Be loyal to Rochford, not to party politics.