New Local Plan: Spatial Options Document 2021

Thank you for the chance to provide comments and initial observations to this vast and extremely complex subject. Emotions will run high on this sensitive initiative which will cloud some of the critical issues that need to be resolved.

Whilst I feel the over consumption of our open spaces and converting these into housing and/or commercial buildings is not in the best interest of the community as a whole, the reality is we need to provide affordable and appropriate housing for our ever increasing population. As such I’m not necessarily contesting the sites themselves but rather, sounding concerns and the clear basic needs that this major scale of building demands. I believe the key points have been trapped/identified in your various documents but what's absolutely vital is that we simply do not flag these points simply as a tick box exercise but rather, effect real actions that will address the major impacts.

1. Infrastructure – this is pretty obvious and it not only centres around the supporting roads for the new sites but equally, wider consideration to the roads that feed Hockley, Hawkwell, etc. As numerous people have already pointed out, the traffic congestion into and out of these places is pretty dire and adding more homes, businesses will only exacerbate this situation further. Just acknowledging this and failing to take mitigating action is no longer acceptable. As our leaders and management of local the communities your roles are to ensure you take sound and well considered decisions that properly measure the whole picture. Implementing further building programmes (through more housing, etc) whilst at the same time, tinkering around the edges of the supporting infrastructure is no longer acceptable nor truly viable. Infrastructure also extends to the drains and the ability to soak away the rainfall and occasional flooding that we sometimes experience. Equaly, it extends to proper maintenance and investment of services to support these additional solutions so that they continue to be fit for purpose.
2. Services – the ever increasing of new residential homes brings an increase in demands on Doctors, Dentists, Schools, nursery’s , sewage, broadband, and so forth. Some of these services are failing to provide the appropriate level of support to the community today, adding more residents into the mix will drive the levels of frustration even further when people are unable to access these services in a reasonable timeframe. Yes funding cuts make this a challenging issue but increasing demand on these basic services at the same time obviously makes the situation worse.
3. Floodplains –We all recognise climate change and the worsening impacts we are witnessing in our day to day lives, is it really sensible that we path over further parts of our green and open spaces within the areas we live. We need flood management solutions that can combat this increasing risk to our environment.


I fully appreciate the above are major factors that are not quick fixes, require significant investment and asks for strong leadership form those empowered. But reality is, we have been expanding our community by large scale housing developments (house building) for many many years now but failed to properly develop fundamental infrastructure plans along the way. We need investment in these areas to cope with the growing residents numbers. At some point, the demands on the infrastructure become overwhelming and it can no longer properly function. In many cases, we are beyond that tipping point already.

Thank you for the chance to provide comments and initial observations to this vast and extremely complex subject. Emotions will run high on this sensitive initiative which will cloud some of the critical issues that need to be resolved.

Whilst I feel the over consumption of our open spaces and converting these into housing and/or commercial buildings is not in the best interest of the community as a whole, the reality is we need to provide affordable and appropriate housing for our ever increasing population. As such I’m not necessarily contesting the sites themselves but rather, sounding concerns and the clear basic needs that this major scale of building demands. I believe the key points have been trapped/identified in your various documents but what's absolutely vital is that we simply do not flag these points simply as a tick box exercise but rather, effect real actions that will address the major impacts.

1. Infrastructure – this is pretty obvious and it not only centres around the supporting roads for the new sites but equally, wider consideration to the roads that feed Hockley, Hawkwell, etc. As numerous people have already pointed out, the traffic congestion into and out of these places is pretty dire and adding more homes, businesses will only exacerbate this situation further. Just acknowledging this and failing to take mitigating action is no longer acceptable. As our leaders and management of local the communities your roles are to ensure you take sound and well considered decisions that properly measure the whole picture. Implementing further building programmes (through more housing, etc) whilst at the same time, tinkering around the edges of the supporting infrastructure is no longer acceptable nor truly viable. Infrastructure also extends to the drains and the ability to soak away the rainfall and occasional flooding that we sometimes experience. Equaly, it extends to proper maintenance and investment of services to support these additional solutions so that they continue to be fit for purpose.
2. Services – the ever increasing of new residential homes brings an increase in demands on Doctors, Dentists, Schools, nursery’s , sewage, broadband, and so forth. Some of these services are failing to provide the appropriate level of support to the community today, adding more residents into the mix will drive the levels of frustration even further when people are unable to access these services in a reasonable timeframe. Yes funding cuts make this a challenging issue but increasing demand on these basic services at the same time obviously makes the situation worse.
3. Floodplains –We all recognise climate change and the worsening impacts we are witnessing in our day to day lives, is it really sensible that we path over further parts of our green and open spaces within the areas we live. We need flood management solutions that can combat this increasing risk to our environment.


I fully appreciate the above are major factors that are not quick fixes, require significant investment and asks for strong leadership form those empowered. But reality is, we have been expanding our community by large scale housing developments (house building) for many many years now but failed to properly develop fundamental infrastructure plans along the way. We need investment in these areas to cope with the growing residents numbers. At some point, the demands on the infrastructure become overwhelming and it can no longer properly function. In many cases, we are beyond that tipping point already.

Thank you for the chance to provide comments and initial observations to this vast and extremely complex subject. Emotions will run high on this sensitive initiative which will cloud some of the critical issues that need to be resolved.

Whilst I feel the over consumption of our open spaces and converting these into housing and/or commercial buildings is not in the best interest of the community as a whole, the reality is we need to provide affordable and appropriate housing for our ever increasing population. As such I’m not necessarily contesting the sites themselves but rather, sounding concerns and the clear basic needs that this major scale of building demands. I believe the key points have been trapped/identified in your various documents but what's absolutely vital is that we simply do not flag these points simply as a tick box exercise but rather, effect real actions that will address the major impacts.

1. Infrastructure – this is pretty obvious and it not only centres around the supporting roads for the new sites but equally, wider consideration to the roads that feed Hockley, Hawkwell, etc. As numerous people have already pointed out, the traffic congestion into and out of these places is pretty dire and adding more homes, businesses will only exacerbate this situation further. Just acknowledging this and failing to take mitigating action is no longer acceptable. As our leaders and management of local the communities your roles are to ensure you take sound and well considered decisions that properly measure the whole picture. Implementing further building programmes (through more housing, etc) whilst at the same time, tinkering around the edges of the supporting infrastructure is no longer acceptable nor truly viable. Infrastructure also extends to the drains and the ability to soak away the rainfall and occasional flooding that we sometimes experience. Equaly, it extends to proper maintenance and investment of services to support these additional solutions so that they continue to be fit for purpose.
2. Services – the ever increasing of new residential homes brings an increase in demands on Doctors, Dentists, Schools, nursery’s , sewage, broadband, and so forth. Some of these services are failing to provide the appropriate level of support to the community today, adding more residents into the mix will drive the levels of frustration even further when people are unable to access these services in a reasonable timeframe. Yes funding cuts make this a challenging issue but increasing demand on these basic services at the same time obviously makes the situation worse.
3. Floodplains –We all recognise climate change and the worsening impacts we are witnessing in our day to day lives, is it really sensible that we path over further parts of our green and open spaces within the areas we live. We need flood management solutions that can combat this increasing risk to our environment.


I fully appreciate the above are major factors that are not quick fixes, require significant investment and asks for strong leadership form those empowered. But reality is, we have been expanding our community by large scale housing developments (house building) for many many years now but failed to properly develop fundamental infrastructure plans along the way. We need investment in these areas to cope with the growing residents numbers. At some point, the demands on the infrastructure become overwhelming and it can no longer properly function. In many cases, we are beyond that tipping point already.

Thank you for the chance to provide comments and initial observations to this vast and extremely complex subject. Emotions will run high on this sensitive initiative which will cloud some of the critical issues that need to be resolved.

Whilst I feel the over consumption of our open spaces and converting these into housing and/or commercial buildings is not in the best interest of the community as a whole, the reality is we need to provide affordable and appropriate housing for our ever increasing population. As such I’m not necessarily contesting the sites themselves but rather, sounding concerns and the clear basic needs that this major scale of building demands. I believe the key points have been trapped/identified in your various documents but what's absolutely vital is that we simply do not flag these points simply as a tick box exercise but rather, effect real actions that will address the major impacts.

1. Infrastructure – this is pretty obvious and it not only centres around the supporting roads for the new sites but equally, wider consideration to the roads that feed Hockley, Hawkwell, etc. As numerous people have already pointed out, the traffic congestion into and out of these places is pretty dire and adding more homes, businesses will only exacerbate this situation further. Just acknowledging this and failing to take mitigating action is no longer acceptable. As our leaders and management of local the communities your roles are to ensure you take sound and well considered decisions that properly measure the whole picture. Implementing further building programmes (through more housing, etc) whilst at the same time, tinkering around the edges of the supporting infrastructure is no longer acceptable nor truly viable. Infrastructure also extends to the drains and the ability to soak away the rainfall and occasional flooding that we sometimes experience. Equaly, it extends to proper maintenance and investment of services to support these additional solutions so that they continue to be fit for purpose.
2. Services – the ever increasing of new residential homes brings an increase in demands on Doctors, Dentists, Schools, nursery’s , sewage, broadband, and so forth. Some of these services are failing to provide the appropriate level of support to the community today, adding more residents into the mix will drive the levels of frustration even further when people are unable to access these services in a reasonable timeframe. Yes funding cuts make this a challenging issue but increasing demand on these basic services at the same time obviously makes the situation worse.
3. Floodplains –We all recognise climate change and the worsening impacts we are witnessing in our day to day lives, is it really sensible that we path over further parts of our green and open spaces within the areas we live. We need flood management solutions that can combat this increasing risk to our environment.


I fully appreciate the above are major factors that are not quick fixes, require significant investment and asks for strong leadership form those empowered. But reality is, we have been expanding our community by large scale housing developments (house building) for many many years now but failed to properly develop fundamental infrastructure plans along the way. We need investment in these areas to cope with the growing residents numbers. At some point, the demands on the infrastructure become overwhelming and it can no longer properly function. In many cases, we are beyond that tipping point already.