brentwood.gov.uk

I would like to set out in writing my strong concerns regarding the proposed development of West Horndon. The proposed number of houses to be developed in the area - 1500, triples the size of the current village, most of which would be built on Metropolitan Green Belt land. We should be protecting our countryside. By developing on our green belt land you would be setting a dangerous precedent. National guidance states that only for exceptional circumstances should green belt be lost and I don't believe additional housing would be included as an exceptional circumstance.

Our neighbouring roads are already at full capacity. Travelling to London on the A127 is already at breaking point, even outside of rush hour times. If there is a slight problem on the A128 into Brentwood, the route comes to a standstill. The road cannot be widened. Therefore residents would be more likely to take their business outside of the borough - to Thurrock or Romford or Basildon.

Our Doctors and Primary school are already at full capacity. The bus service is infrequent. Our train station has no direct route to Brentwood. C2C have no intention of expanding the station or adding more trains to the current timetable for West Horndon. Therefore, an already busy station will be at breaking point.

As shown at Christmas 2012, West Horndon is a flood risk. Surely building further on the surrouding land would be irresponsible unless a lot of money could be ploughed into addressing the risk and being certain that you aren't pushing the problem onto our neighbouring areas.

We moved here to be part of a village and very much enjoy the close, community life that this affords us. You would be completely transforming our homes and forcing upon us a town that we didn't buy into.

Station Road is already a busy road. This development on such a large scale would be forcing a huge amount of additional traffic down Station Road,a residential street which many children use to get to school. The local communities are the ones that will suffer the increased traffic, loss of rural character and without any discernible benefits.

What impact will this development have on our countryside? What consideration has been given to the variety of wildlife that currently exists?

I understand change is a way of life and we all have to accept some element of development to our communities, but what you are proposing is ill thought out and will have a detrimental impact not only to the current villagers but to those in the neighbouring areas too. Loss of the brownfield site (the industrial estate) would cut out the huge lorries that fly down station road and so for many in the village this could be seen as quite beneficial. However an additional 500 houses is still a huge change for the village and services will need to be improved. In particular, as well as an alternative access route to the new site to alleviate some of the traffic down station road, I would also like to see a bigger doctors surgery with a proper pharmacy for the more elderly people in the village. To help link West Horndon to Brentwood more closely I would also like to see a bridge put over the a127 so people in the village can more easily get to Ingrave/Herongate/Thorndon Park and ultimately Brentwood. The village would also benefit greatly from a community centre to provide more services to both the young and the elderly.

I do believe very strongly in preserving our green belt land and can't see how building houses on our green belt can be seen as anything but harmful.