Comments on behalf of Mr J Hart in response to the Council's public consultation on the Core Strategy Preferred Options document, dated October 2008, to form part of the Local Development Framework of Rochford District Council.

The Council's acceptance that some Green Belt land will need to be released and 70% of new housing is to be on greenfield sites, as sustainable extensions to existing settlements within the plan period 2001 - 2021 is supported.

Our client is also in favour of focusing new housing development on the higher tier settlements (H2), which includes Rochford/Ashingdon, as part of the proposed balanced strategy.

However, our client does not support the Council's Preferred Options for the General Location and Phasing of future housing development, as set out in H1 &H2, which is to totally exclude North Ashingdon from any future housing development within the period up to 2025, now being considered.

Although our client accepts the possible concentration of growth in East Ashingdon may have merit, some growth within the North Ashingdon area is felt to be appropriate given the pattern of the existing settlement, the established infrastructure and accessibility enjoyed by this more established area.

Furthermore, our client suggests the topography and impact on the surrounding countryside is more in favour of some growth taking place within North Ashingdon than to the West of Rochford, in which substantial growth is anticipated on a scale likely to far more significantly encroach into the open countryside and reduce the separation between the settlements of Rochford /Hockley and between Rochford / Southend.

Our client therefore respectfully suggests some development within North Ashingdon should form part of the Core Strategy in its final form.

Comments submitted on behalf of Julian Hart
by Graham Jolley Ltd