brentwood.gov.uk

1. Priests Lane is an extremely busy road especially in the morning rush hour when traffic can be backed up 750 yards from the junction with Middleton Hall Lane, and also in the evening rush hour. The situation is made even worse if there are traffic problems on the A12. The erection of houses on these sites will add significantly to traffic congestion and an even greater number of cars will use Priests Lane if a sports facility is added on the site.
2. Access to the site from any of three possible junctions will I believe be potentially dangerous to car users and pedestrians and I believe an independent assessment of access should be made by an expert.
3. Priests Lane is already very narrow in parts and has only one pavement for some considerable part of it. Additional traffic and the access point to the site mentioned under 2 above will make for more dangerous conditions for pedestrians, especially school children who use the road to reach the three schools near the town end of Priests Lane.
4. Residents already have to tolerate traffic noise, and this will be made worse by construction vehicles, which in the narrow parts of Priests Lane will need to mount the curb to pass other traffic.
5. Residents are entitled to quiet enjoyment of their properties, and of construction were to go ahead, this would be lost to them and the general environment would be affected.
6. There are two schools adjacent to the site and the children there will be affected by the construction noise. Especially worrying is the effect on the children at The Endeavour School who all have special needs to a lesser or greater extent and from personal experience the effect on them could be excessive.
7. Using these sites will lead to a loss of open space in an already built up area.
8. Houses in Priests Lane have in the last few years suffered from attacks on gardens by badgers and it is possible that these sites could be the home of badger sets and badgers are a protected species. I understand these sites are home to many other wild animals and trees all of which could suffer from the developments.
9. I do not believe that the number of dwellings proposed in the draft plan will be adhered to as developers have the habit of increasing the density at detailed planning application time, and this will result in further increase in congestion.
10. I would doubt that the additional population added by this proposed development could be catered for by local health facilities as anyone who uses these facilities locally will confirm.
11. During rush hours, the junction of Priests Lane and Middleton Hall Lane is very congested and is I believe in an area that already breaches EU regulations on air quality and an increase in dwellings can only add to this problem.
12. I am concerned that the utility supplies in Priests Lane which over recent years has been found to be below acceptable standards will be able to cope with additional dwellings.
One other point I would like to make about the Local Development Plan is that number of dwellings identified for Brentwood Town centre will overwhelm an already congested and polluted area and residents will have to accept a deterioration of the quality of the town centre. There are plenty of Brownfield sites available for development in the Parishes and on the outskirts of the town centre.