brentwood.gov.uk

I have lived in West Horndon for nearly forty years and raised my family here. It is a very pleasant place to live with a good village feel where neighbours care for each other. During the time I have lived here we have had several small developments namely the Petresfield estate, Lombard Chase, and the development of the old garage site, and the people who have moved into the houses have been incorporated into village life without changing the character of the village. The new proposals are too big and would swamp the village.
I do not object to building on the Industrial brownfield site although I do think that 500 properties is far too many for the size of the site in order to maintain the character of the village. The bulk of the present properties are detached or semi-detached houses or bungalows with large or reasonable sized gardens, any future development should have a large proportion of similar properties. However, before any building is started a great deal of infrastructure will need to be put in place.
The roads in the village are already busy and nay extra traffic will cause more problems. All the extra traffic from the new housing wishing to travel towards Southend will have to come through the village as there is no right turn onto the A127 from either Childerditch Lane or Thorndon Avenue. HAS THIS BEEN CONSIDERED?
Our station is already busy and during early morning and evenings the trains are full to capacity. HOW DO YOU EXPECT NEW VILLAGERS TO GET TO WORK?
At present it takes 3 days to get an appointment at the doctors. WILL WE HAVE TO WAIT FOR THREE WEEKS IN FUTURE?
Our village school has an excellent reputation and would change its character completely should a large influx of children come into it. IF A NEW SCHOOL WAS TO BE BUILT THAT WOULD JUST DIVIDE THE NEW VILLAGERS FROM THE OLD.
Our bus service is poor and we cannot get into Brentwood after 18.16 and the last bus from Brentwood to the village leaves at 17.40. SO MUCH FOR AN EVENING OUT IN BRENTWOOD.
We are a small village and do not feel that we should take nearly half the Boroughs new housing, we don't mind taking a share but surely other villages must take their share too.
My objection to the proposals concern sections 037A/B this is Metropolitan Greenbelt and helps form a buffer between the great sprawl of outer London and the village. It is not only greenbelt it also forms a flood relief barrier for the village, areas of the village have been flooded as recently as last Christmas and should building take place on those fields we are likely to flooded more in the future. If flood protection is put in then the water will have to go somewhere and will badly effect Bulphan, I believe it is against the National Planning Policy Framework to cause a neighbouring area to be flooded. These fields to the west of Thorndon Avenue also contain a wide variety of wildlife, including great crested nests and pipestrelle bats, both of which I understand are protected species. I do not feel that the Borough has done any background checks on the land and have just viewed it as a space on a map, it is far more that that to us and until every brownfield site within the Borough is built upon, no Greenfield site should be considered and certainly NO GREENBELT land at all.