I have been living in Merryfields Avenue Hockley for 42 years adjacent to this area of land Ref CFS024, and confirm, as said many times before over the years, that it is in no way suitable to be included in the New Local Plan for any future building development.
It has been offered for consideration as a site showing space for 39 new homes, but has access problems, many protected trees, and has much existing wildlife, all as described in more detail below.
The area of land is Metropolitan Greenbelt with Agricultural Status, and is there to protect the countryside from being developed inappropriately. It has Global Tree Protection Orders on all the larger trees, of which there are many.
The access to the site is very limited, and Marylands and Merryfields Avenues are a quiet residential area and to have heavy lorries and site traffic weaving its way in these roads would be dangerous and unacceptable.
Any development to this site would also have a detrimental effect on wildlife and the adjacent nature reserve.
The land is a long thin strip behind a residential area and adjacent to the Marylands Nature Reserve with open land and footpaths and recreational areas beyond that.
It is a small development with extremely poor access and would not benefit the government quotas for social/affordable housing.
This woodland area supports and protects the existing Nature Reserve from the negative impact of the existing domestic dwellings. Nature does not stop at the current boundary of the Nature Reserve and has naturally spread to this woodland site.Any development would severely impact the existing wildlife from birds, bats, badgers, foxes, butterflies and their food sources including vegetation, insects and their habitat in this area and those from the Nature Reserve which benefit from the woodland, some of which will have spread to this area with nests/burrows or territories/tracks.
The site has an awkward, sloped, narrow, single access through narrow congested roads to reach Plumberow Avenue,
The woodland site is also currently providing a natural soakaway, but there is still a build up during heavy rainfall at the end of Marylands Avenue where the only access to the site would be, because of the existing poor drainage system.
As said before, this is a small development and would not make a contribution to improving the infrastructure, nor allocate any social/affordable housing, so for all these reasons, and the obvious damage to nature and many preserved trees, this site should not be allowed to have any development, and NOT BE INCLUDED IN THE NEW LOCAL PLAN.