brentwood.gov.uk

West Horndon is a small village community and the preferred option will be a major development alongside it which will triple the size of the village and would change its character. The village has 750 properties and the proposal is to add 1,500 additional dwellings. I disagree, this is too many dwellings and will not benefit the village but only the developers. It will leave the borough council and village with many problems to sort out and pay for in the future.

The Doomsday book mentions the village of West Horndon. The scale of the development proposed is major and disproportionate, and does not seem to enhance the village but create an new separate village to one side.

An infrastructure delivery plan and flood risk assessment needs to be carried out before deciding to build any new dwellings in West Horndon. The public transport to the rest of the borough is poor and unreliable. The primary school is at full capacity and there is no secondary school in the village. The doctors surgery is at full capacity and takes several days to get an appointment. It would be good if additional resources could be made available to have the doctors surgery open before 9am and after5pm and on Saturdays. The broadband is poor and it would be good, essential indeed to have fibre optic broadband available in the village. We don't have a dentist, an optician, a chiropractor or a podiatrist. The village probably doesn't need permanent health care practitioners beyond a doctors, but it would be good to have easy available access to these. Especially for the older community.

The consultation exercise on a draft, premature proposal which needs more evidence before we can really feel properly consulted upon.

This plan and the consultation process feels to me to be done from the Council and planners down to the local residents of West Horndon. The local community needs and wishes need to be heard and acknowledged. I do not want building to take place on the proposed plot of 037. It is green belt and the only boundary to is the A127.

If West Horndon needs to accept additional properties in the village they should be built on brown field areas such as the West Horndon Industrial Estate. Other areas in the village are Elliott's night club former plot. and possibly Timmermam's nursery nearby on the 127. Development should be low density and tasteful in keeping with the village.

Other locations for development to be considered are: Hutton Industrial Estate, Waits Way Industrial Estate, Ingatestone garden centre. Also for north of the borough groups of houses with independent sewage system could be built, such as those in St Marys Lane.

I do not support building on metropolitan green belt, but if green belt land in West Horndon needs to have building then I might agree to building along Station Road if the park was extended behind the dwellings to provide a boundary. The extended and improved park would provide safe areas for walking in the dark winter evenings and could provide an exceptional benefit the village.

To enhance West Horndon it would also need a local shop that opens later than 8pm; a free to use ATM; additional money and resources to allow the village hall to run classes and events after work hours; a completely upgraded bus service with frequent and reliable journeys to Brentwood to access opticians, dentists, etc; the doctors surgery would need more resources to allow it to open for longer hours and on Saturdays.

The village is made up of a low density housing and surrounded by open countryside. Plot 037 has been farmed for years with oil seed rape, wheat and peas and provide food for the UK. Building on that green belt will reduce the land available for wildlife, loss of ancient hedgerows and borders, and will destroy the rural character of the village.

If any dwellings are to be built on West Horndon Brown Field Sites the residents should really have a say in the mix, proportion and density of the dwellings proposed. The draft plan and road shows were unable to give further information on the dwellings proposed and we would like an opportunity to feed into this. Delivery times to proposed new retail units will need to be limited to avoid noise pollution to existing and new properties on sites 020 and 021. new properties along existing houses should be kept low so as to avoid over looking gardens that are currently not over looked.

The 127 and 128 roads are already unable to cope with the morning and evening commuters. I am sure the developers will not pay to build an extra lane and remove several homes to help solve the problem. The junction at Station Road and the 128 would need to be redesigned to accept traffic crossing the A128 and will probably need traffic lights or a major roundabout. St Mary's lane is windy and narrow and has several small stone bridges. A modern cement bridge would be ugly and would not enhance the village.

The junction at the station, the industrial estate and village is dangerous. The proposed low level roundabout at the junction (which would then be a junction for 5 major exits) is insufficient and dangerous for children crossing the road to and from the school bus.

The proposal suggests that the remaining industrial estate and the new dwellings share the same roads which is not safe for children and the older generation.

The pedestrian entrance to the railway station is shared with the vehicles. There is no footpath.

The bus stop is beside the waste collection amenity site for the borough and the car access area doubles up as the bus stop.

Driving from the 127 to the village is dangerous as the exits are inadequate.

Plot 037 is the flood plain for Thorndon Park. It has had severe flooding in 1958, 1981 and 2012. An assessment of the drainage in the area would need to be carried out before any building is planned in West Horndon. Bulphan and West Horndon are at risk of flooding on the Environment Agency's web site show. Flood prevention in the area will have a knock on affect to land south of West Horndon.

Sites 020 and 021 are brownfield sites and are currently employment land. It is necessary that existing businesses will be helped to relocate to near by sites and that the offer is attractive enough to avoid them moving to outside the borough.

Local Plans should develop robust and comprehensive policies, however this plan is still very draft and has lots of gaps to be filled. For example around flooding, public and road transport infrastructure, health and educational services, amenities, rail. These need to be carried out to make the proposal robust and comprehensive. The borough council need to carry out a study of West Horndon in order to accurately calculate whether its plans are realistically affordable. It is better and easier to find out before any dwellings are built.