To whom this may concern.

As the homeowner of [redacted - house number] Little Wakering Road, Barling Magna, Essex SS3 0LN I write to express my serious concerns about the council’s proposals of the Spatial Options Consultation, beginning with the communication to local residents and administration of process. The online consultation portal and supporting documents, reports, interactive maps etc. I consider to be deliberately designed to confuse even the most educated of local residents. The sheer volume of supporting documents and their size makes it almost impossible for the average local resident to respond objectively and succinctly outline their thoughts – good or bad.

For this reason I have not responded through the portal as simply put I am struggling to navigate it. Instead, by cc’ing in one of our local councillors I hope my thoughts are duly considered by the council.

I am particularly concerned by the potential site CFS004 (next to Barling Magna School). I live on this extremely narrow stretch of Little Wakering Road just a few doors down from this site and regularly use this area with my wife and young children (under 3yrs) horse riding, walking, cycling and running. The pavements are too narrow in places to get our buggy through and the numerous parked cars make pulling out of our drive very difficult. We are regularly blocked in by other cars during school runs and are frequently woken up at night by cars speeding along this narrow section. I must disagree entirely with elements of the Initial Appraisal and question the methodology behind the ratings.

For example, the Existing Site Access Score is a 5, the highest rating. How can this be so? This is on the very narrow section of Little Wakering Rd and directly opposite our childrens nursery. This whole area frequently becomes gridlocked during school runs presenting a significant hazard to local residents, children at the nursery / preschool / primary school and their parents.

A second example – the rating for access to a Secondary School is 4. Yet slightly further down Little Wakering Road at site CFS192 (Land to West of Little Wakering) the rating for Secondary School is 1, the lowest possible. The sites are barely 1/2mile apart, are served by the same bus route, and only have pavements on the opposite side of the road. This high rating is surprising given that the access to bus services and train services are 1, presumambly this means the council are relying on student’s parents driving them to the secondary school? This isn’t exactly in keeping with current ‘green environmental policies’ that I am sure the council is bound to. I am sure that detailed review of all of the sites would present similar inconsistencies. Though perhaps isolated inconsistencies, it is this same data that is a major factor in determining which sites may be viable and proceed along the planning process. If either site were to be considered I would pursue a detailed response from the council evidencing their reasons for the different ratings.

Putting potentially 26 houses in this small area is so out of keeping with the local area. All of the houses along this section of Barling are detached or semi-detached, most with driveways and front gardens. There are fewer than 26houses in the entire SS3 0LN postcode. Should any houses be permitted at this plot they must be in keeping with Barling village. The architype of houses at the current Barrow Hall and Star Lane developments would be of detriment to our small and picturesque village.

I am unable to provide a detailed response to each of the local sites for the reasons outlined in the opening paragraph. I note the following general and specific points as bulleted below and strongly request that they are taken into consideration by the council.

• It is my understanding (based on page 28 of the Rochford and Southend Stage One and Two Green Belt Study 2020) that almost all of the potential sites from the south of Rochford to Little Wakering and south of Great Wakering are within Green Belt Land. It is my limited understanding that Green Belt Land is protected to prevent urban sprawl from connecting small villages and towns, to keep green space between them. I therefore cannot see how almost all of these sites can be even considered by the council due to their being located within the Green Belt. Many of them are scored the lowest 1 rating, the highest level of harm to the Green Belt. Disappointingly Site CFS004 receives a 2 rating for this. I perceive this as another inconsistency as detailed above and would request further information as to why this constitutes less harm than the site CFS192 below.
• The main roads into Barling and Little Wakering are 60mph national speed limit country roads. They are uneven, twisted, with no or limited street lighting, have uneven cambers and are exceedingly narrow for the most part. The section of Barrow Hall Road where it joins Barling Road is barely 4m, this means that 2 larger cars can’t pass one another without significant care or attention. There are regularly accidents along these roads and therefore I consider them to be wholly unsuitable for access to residential developments. I hope that the council has not set a precedence by allowing the developer of the Barrow Hall site to use this for access, Southend Road to the south would have been much more appropriate.
• Shopland Road is similar to Barrow Hall Road and Barling Road. What is most concerning is that the narrow bridge by Butlers Farm cannot safely accommodate much more vehicular traffic. There are regularly accidents at this bridge as 2 larger cars cannot pass each other in the same manner as described above. Any developments in this area must include a widening (and straightening) of this section of road to prevent further accidents.
• Public transport is very poor within Little Wakering and Barling. There are very limited bus services making it difficult to access local services and shops, plus Southend and Shoebury without having access to a private vehicle. Any developments in these villages will greatly increase the number of vehicles on these narrow roads with the usual negative effect on parking, driveway access, speeding and pollution.
• There is a lack of suitable footpaths within Little Wakering and Barling. Much of Barling only has a path on one side and this simply stops at Church Rd and a short distance where Little Wakering Road joins Barling Road. Where are the residents of this potential development (CFS004) supposed to walk to safely without being forced to walk into a national speed limit county road? The footpaths we have are narrow and steeply cambered in many places, I would hope that the council upgrades these should any of these developments be passed for planning.
• There are two main sections of Little Wakering Road that cause myself and other local residents concern.
o Opposite my house (between Barling Lodge and the Primary School) is very narrow. Cars are always parked on the east side meaning that there are very few areas that cars can safely pull in. With the volume of traffic noticeably increasing of late, particularly at school runs, there is frequently congestion, dangerous driving, and driveways including my own being blocked in. More cars on the road from any residential developments will only add to this. Only last month my neighbour (redacted - house number) had his van damaged by someone travelling at speed from the north end, this road is simply too narrow to support any more traffic without taking into account the dangers to the children using the school and nurseries.
o Between the Castle Pub and Kimberly Road. The north bound section of road is frequently almost entirely blocked by parked cars leaving little or no space for cars to pass each other. Many times I have witnessed dangerous & aggressive driving by irate drivers trying to navigate this stretch and blocking each other in. Any development plans to Little Wakering must mandate improvements to Little Wakering Road.
• Generally, I cannot see how this area (north of Southend to Rochford and the villages of Great Wakering, Little Wakering and Barling Magna) can support more houses without provisions for additional GP and other healthcare services. The GP at Great Wakering is almost impossible to get an appointment at, the same for many local NHS dentists. Little Rascals Nursery and the pre-school in Barling are already full. More houses will only make this worse.