Policy 1 - Hockley Area Action Plan framework

Point C refers to "enhanced car parking" but the plans show minimal, if any, extra parking despite a new supermarket 6 times the size of existing. The HAAP also proposes to consolidate the existing station car park into this small space. The plan is simply not viable.

A bigger supermarket is not needed or wanted. Parking is already in short supply without any changes.

Having lived in Hockley for 20+years I think the plan totally ignores the wishes of most residents. We do not want a bigger supermarket, especially if it takes away parking from the railway station, nor a large increase in housing. What the majority of residents wish for and in fact voted for, although you seemed to have ignored their wishes, is for Hockley to retain it's village feel and charm - that is after all why many people, myself included, chose to move and live here. The main improvement needed is for traffic flow at the Spa Road mini roundabout.

I object strongly to the proposal to destroy the small town/village
aspect of Hockley by promoting a large supermarket up to six times the size of the co-op. The existing shops are completely adequate for most of my food shopping. I only use the Southend or Rayleigh weir shops about once a month. I also travel outside the immediate district for entertainment to Southend, Basildon or London. If it aint broke don't fix it!

I object to the size of the proposed supermarket.I also object to the lack of forward thinking in these proposals bringing extra traffic and deliveries and people. Sainsburys has already brought chaos with their selfish parking and disrespect for local residents. Hockley's infrastructure will not support this scale development.I understand development is needed but with emphasis on promoting a more community friendly centre with independent traders and a scheme of reduced business rates for a limited period.Security is needed to keep the centre trouble free, this is not even achieved now.Only this Saturday whilst I drove through Spa Rd at 11.30 pm youths were running riot with supermarket trolleys in the road trying to ram them into the traffic.
This nearly caused me to crash, I was abused and felt vulnerable.There
was not a policeman in sight .
How is enlarging a centre going to benefit the locals when we have only 1 police constable for the whole of the area and no night policing. It will only encourage more teenagers to congregate on the station and centre.

I fully support the thrust of the proposals in the plan. The Eldonwall trading estate is an eyesore and as an area close to the village centre its redevelopment provides a wonderful opportunity to provide an attractive extension to the existing mix of shops, offices, residential accommodation and leisure facilities. I've lived in Hockley for over 70 years; the present village centre has changed little in those years and improvement is long overdue.

I am concerned with any plans to increase the size of the population of Hockley, simply because in my experience ammenities such as the local doctors surgery are alreay struggling to meet demand for appointments and any extra housing will only add to this problem. I believe it is already at a critical point whereby the lack of appointments could lead to someone becoming seriously ill or worse whilst waiting to see a doctor.

hockley cannot sustain additional housing without additional infrastructure. schools, doctor surgeries, dentists, leisure facilities and roads cannot cope with existing population.

there are currently two supermarkets along spa road. you are proposing to add another. spa road was congested prior to building the new sainsburys. now traffic is held up for deliveries with no added value of having another supermarket.

proposed development is out of proportion to the size of the village. supermarket proposed is far too large and there are insufficient parking spaces allocated. This will also cause problems at the railway station. It destroys the character of the village and will undoubtedly lead to congestion in an already overcrowded area. Some additional housing may be warranted on the Eldon way site but anything else will be far too large. The road network is already busy and further development can only increase problems in this regard, leading to issues about safety for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.

Hockley is a village / country town not crying out for undue development. Eldon Way could be better enhanced with greater leisure and communal facilitates and perhaps a more welcoming grassed aspect to certain areas but to house another large supermarket ion that location where we are already very well served locally is inappropriate. Quality of living in Hockley and not to be imposed purely I feel for commercial private gain should be bettered considered or another pseudo Milton Keys on our hands. I also suggest that stealth like to build more houses on the train station current car park is another few blocks to build a Lego town build if we are not careful losing more identity and commuter facilities into London.

The Retail and Leisure Study does not state that there is a great potential in Hockley

The council is ignoring many views of the locals, the main one being that Hockley is a VILLAGE.
Hockley does not require a supermarket of the size suggested. A large supermarket will not support the current retail units in the village, it will swamp them and drive them out. There is not enough parking for a supermarket of the size suggested and congestion would be made even worse than it has become since the opening of Sainsburys.

Stupid idea and should under not circumstances be approved. The current services cannot support the current population of Hockley adding more houses would just make it unbearable.

I'm possibly in the wrong area of the site, but these are comments relating to the Hockley area Action Plan. I've been a resident of the Rochford area for 32 years and have a business in the district for 39 years. I'm chairman of Hockley Chamber of Trade and was on the local original comitee for the Hockley Parish Plan. Firstly, Hockley is a large village with a strong community spirit. Many local residents are involved in community affairs. But the community is not well served by the quality of some of the local shops. The shopkeepers in turn are let down by the poor quality of many shop buildings. Eldon Way estate is largely a wasteland because industry has moved away. So leisure facilities sit next to empty delapidated units. Eldon Way is in reality just behind Spa Road Shops but currently a 10 minute walk away. Better access between the two would make sense and if this was a traffic-free walkway would be a useful addition. Hockley is often very busy with traffic and the crossing of Spa Road by Spa Pub is dangerous. A pedestrian crossing there would improve safety. Most residents do not want traffic lights at the Spa mini roundabout. A larger roundabout with island would make sense as it would slow traffic down when turning. The right turn on to Greensward Lane into Plumberow Ave is always a cause of congestion. Maybe a filter lane could be added to the junction. Hockley library car park is under-used because of 1) Very Poor Signage. Informative signs are needed both directions on Southend Road and also on Mian Road and Spa Road. 2) Car Park is too far away from the shops and accross a very busy road. Bus services are adequate i believe, but busses stopping cause delays in both directions on Spa Road. A large supermarket on Eldon Way would give the three existing supermarkets plus convenience store a very hard time resulting maybe in more empty premises in village centre. Affordable housing in village centre and surroundings is badly needed. Retirement units near to village centre and shops/station could encourage older residents to downsize freeing up for younger residents. Tree planting south side of spa road could disguise the poor appearance of the single storey units

8 Years ago i moved my family down to Hockley for a smaller and better way of life. I came from a big town and did not like the rush and crowd that came along with it. I simply loved Hockley for its small character and small shops which i spend a lot of my time in. I only live 10 minutes away from Hockley Village and I completely object from the plan to expand as it will be too busy and i personally think the expansions will bring no joy to the Village, only havoc and disappointment from the idea of change. I think it will bring the wrong type of people into the Village and it will not be a happy place where myself and elderly people would not like to walk into the Village and not want to shop due to crowds or chaos. Also my younger son who is 15 goes to a fantastic youth club which he walks to and enjoys so much. Even if the youth club was to be moved, i would not let my son walk down to the Village as i would feel unsafe and groups would form around that time, which i do not agree with at all. I work in the local school which is already becoming over crowded with families, so to build 100 more homes would be a terrible idea as the school will lose character and the thought of it being a 'small local school'.

As I have stated in 3.3, it is very difficult to make a full assessment as these proposals are too vague. The drawing provided is unclear and I believe has many errors on it. Some of the parking is show in Eldon Way where access ramps to existing building are at present. I therefore believe this proposal to be unsound.

The Core Strategy provides for many hundreds of new homes in the Rochford, Hawkwell and Hockley area but without the necessary infrastructure to support so many additional families. Greenbelt is gradually being eroded until the area will become one continuous conurbation. Hockley has grown from a small to a large village in the last fifty years with an ever-increasing number of residents commuting to London. The majority of rush-hour trains are full almost to seating capacity by the time they leave Hockley Station. Changing Hockley from a village to a town will encourage further commuters and place even further pressures on our rail service. Already thousands of commuters using the Liverpool St line are paying exhorbitant amounts to travel like cattle, standing for the majority, if not all, of their journey.

It is all well and good planning two lanes at the Spa roundabout. However, if this develops in the manner of similar roundabouts in the area, the lanes will be insufficiently wide to accommodate even two standard vehicles side by side. The creation of the additional lanes will also require the demolishing of existing buildings.

There are any number of large suppermarkets within a short drive - Asda, Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose. A large supermarket in Hockley is not warranted and will cause untold traffic issues. Residents often walk to shop in the existing stores but will almost certainly drive if doing visiting a larger store and buying more items during a visit.

Countless research has shown the beneficial effects of open spaces on the mental and physical well-being of the population. Without doubt, there are higher levels of aggressive behaviour in the more densely populated areas of the country and this area is already densely populated when compared with the majority of the UK.

The current infrastructure doesn't support such a development.
Traffic is already an issue.
We have a mix of shops that adds to the character of Hockley as a village, the people here moved here for that reason and don't want their village to change.
We dont need any more food shops in Hockley and a supermarket the size you are proposing will probably wipe out most of the smaller local shops in the area.

Ridiculous idea, Hockley does not have the infrastructure to deal with additional housing and another supermarket.
No allowance has been made for additional schools, doctors surgeries, etc

The whole thing sounds like the big developers whoever that may be in this case (I would assume Waitrose, Tesco etc) have waved a large cheque in front of the councillors and designers to pass through this utterly ludicrous plan.

Hockley may not be the village it once was but lets not turn it into another Basildon.

I applaud the local council's forward thinking policies to rejuvenate what is now an under utilised industrial estate. The estate was developed to cater for light manufacturing back in the 1960's, and it is common knowledge that this business sector has been in steady decline ever since. It is far better to utilise brown field sites like these to build new housing, encourage leisure use and create open new green spaces for the local community to enjoy.

I definately oppose Your plans for redeveloping Hockley. My self and many others don't want a major supermarket here. We don't need one because we already have 3 small supermarkets in Hockley and they are not even that busy. If we feel the need to go to a large supermarket then there is Asda at Rawreth Lane, Sainsburys at R.Weir and Tesco's going towards Southend and then Waitrose by the B&Q's superstore, so we are very well catered for if not over catered for already. I would have prefered the Factory Shop to stay rather than what happened by being replaced with the Sainsburys Shop. I'm pretty sure you are looking at putting a Tesco superstore in Hockley due to the finiancal benefit to you rather than the benefits to us the residents because lets not forget that you will get a massive sum for the land and/or rent from Tesco's. Hockley is not a run down area infact it's resident's are hard working people whom realize that commuting/working & traveling is part of their lives and they live and have choosen to live in Hockley because it is still a special place where by people still smile at one another and say hello etc. Hockley is a place with clean air, not too much taffic and not too much traffic pollution. Your proposal to put in this large superstore and redelopement such as widening roads for more traffic etc will change Hockley forever from a nice villiage feel to just another busy noisey Town. This is not wanted and not needed so hands off. The existing shops such as the health shop etc and places like the youth club and CJ's bowling are emensly valuable to us. I grant you that some of the industrial area is vacant but this will probably improve when the Country eventually improves economically as a whole. This area is for local peaple to run THEIR businesses and small businesses do need little factorys/units, local business owners do not want to pushed out of the area and local people don't want to have to drive miles for the services that they provide. When ever an area get bigger and more like a Town then the quality of life goes down and things like littering, violence and general crime go up just look at other areas such as Baslidon, Southend and even Rayleigh. Hockley is a small place and has roads that at the momment are meeting the demands of local traffic. But your plans will cause months if not years of road works and chaos for us the residents trying to get about. Your plans are totally unfair, not wanted and not needed. Your plans appear to be there for your income rather than what the resident's want, you the council should be looking after our needs and our quality of life.

As I understand the plan it will reduce parking space at the village center, which is a problem already, add more residents which will cause more traffic into an area which is congested already at midday and rush hours.
There is no plan to tackle the traffic issue (under the railway bridge)

As a shareholder in the company which owns Foundry Business Park, I object strongly to the proposal to route a footpath from Eldon Way/Village through FBP to the Station. We and our tenants value the security of the site and have experienced in the past vandalism and thefts when access has been left through to Eldon Way.

I also fee that the proposals for the Eldon Way estate are unsustainable because of the lack of car parking in the proposal. I would also question if the land is suitable and is not contaminated given it earlier use as battery manufacturing site.

Hockley does not need these changes! A supermarket in the centre will ruin the village. Why change what works?

Ridiculous idea! Hockley is a village, has a centre and does not need another supermarket

NO need for another supermarket of any size
Traffic is already an issue and adding new housing will massively compound the problem. No more houses needed.
No building on Mount Crescent needed as the extra traffic and population would ruin this quiet area.
Plans must be scaled down significantly. I get most of my shopping locally, shops are fine as they are.

More houses and more offices means more cars but you're losing park spaces, wheres the sense. Hockley is populated enough, parking in the village is a nightmare as it is. The station car park is full Monday to Friday if you make it smaller where are people going to park - back streets where children walk to school making it more difficult and dangerous for them to cross roads. We don't want a bigger supermarket we have the Co-op and now Sainsburys with more stores in Rayleigh, Rochford and Southend, thats enough. Houses and offices bring more traffic we don't want more we have enough as it is. We're a village and we want to stay that way. Leave us alone we don't want this.

First of all let me say, that I feel all this asking the people of Hockley what they want is all a smokescreen to make us feel we have a choice, but infact the big supermarket / developers has all ready been waving the big wads of cash and there's that saying 'Money talks' and it's a done deal!. I hope i'm wrong and they do listen to the people because I would like Hockley to keep it's village feel. Maybe the unused units in Eldon way could be turned into houses but not Hockley station car park. Leave the roads as they are, it's not often it gets congested and when it does, that's part of living in a village!!. Support the small buisiness maybe lowering their rents to keep them here and encouraging new small buisiness. Most people have cars to get to the large supermarkets so we don't need another one in Hockley, improving the bus services would be good for people who dont have transport, and all the stores have online delivery services so there is no need for ANOTHER supermarket!!!!!!!!!!. And another thing this form, about the DPD I feel thats another catch because without studying the legal requirments I wouldn't know what they are, and if I consider the DPD not sound I have to give a reason, but the reason I want to give is not an option so I am forced to make another comment which is NOT my choice otherwise I cannot submit my form!!!!

These proposals are unnecessary and not viable and will not take Hockley forward.
The proposals seem geared towards a town rather than a village.
Hockley already has three supermarkets and has no need or requirement for a large one.
Little or no consideration appears to have been given to the highways and parking issues.
I wish to maintain Hockley's village character.
I would like to see our local highway infrastructure improved not made worse.
I've no wish to see any major redevelopment of Eldon Way.
I wish to see the existing leisure facilities kept.
The existing shopping area is in need of revitalisation but not to this scale.

These proposals are unnecessary and not viable and will not take Hockley forward.
The proposals seem geared towards a town rather than a village.
Hockley already has three supermarkets and has no need or requirement for a large one.
Little or no consideration appears to have been given to the highways and parking issues.
I wish to maintain Hockley's village character.
I would like to see our local highway infrastructure improved not made worse.
I've no wish to see any major redevelopment of Eldon Way.
I wish to see the existing leisure facilities kept.
The existing shopping area is in need of revitalisation but not to this scale.