brentwood.gov.uk

I wish to strongly object to the proposed development under the Local Development Plan for West Horndon. This incredibly unfair document appears to have been cobbled together without actually assessing whether West Horndon is capable of this development for the reasons stated below and I wish to object to the Local Development Plan for these reasons.;

1. Major Development and West Horndon; This development would increase our village by approximately 300%, most people live in the village because it is just that, a VILLAGE, not a small town, we have been given scant information as to how these houses will be built and what type of housing they are, only that you are planning to build on flood plains and greenbelt land, how can the village as a whole possibly make an informed decision when the plans are so outline? Why was West Horndon chosen to take 43% of the total required plan when it is the least suited to do so, Ingatestone has far more amenities and facilities and would be far better suited than our little village, why was it chosen over there? National Guidelines state that Local planning authorities should assess the quality and capacity infrastructure, Water Supply, Waste Water and its treatment, Energy including Heat, telecommunications, utilities, waste, health, social care, education, and flood risk, none of this has been carried out, or if it has, it has not been made available to the residents. In light of this as a resident I can only see a reduction in quality of life. This proposal has been poorly put forward and is ill-conceived and has not been investigated on the scale it should have been before putting before the residents for a decision

2. Neighbourhood Planning and Localism; The NPP framework (National Planning Policy) states that local planning authorities should engage all affected sections of the community in the development of local plans and in the deciosns made in Planning, and should facilitate neighbourhood planning, apart from roadhsows, which some the head of planning didn't bother to turn up, giving very sketchy details there has been no engagement and this plan has been forced upon us by Brentwood Council

3. Metropolitan Green Belt; The National Planning Policy framework puts great importance on Green Belts to prevent Urban Sprawl, Housing is not an exceptional circumstance to destroy our green belt as far as the Government is concerned, why is it for Brentwood Council? There are so many more options within the Borough for development NOT on greenbelt, why is West Horndon being victimised?

4. Is West Horndon a sustainable Location? ; At pesent, there are crowded rush hour trains, quite often commuters boarding at West Horndon do not get seats in personal correspondence with C2C they have stated they have no plans to increase capacity, in fact the current rolling stock would not allow for an increase, there is a very limited bus service, very few shops, the school is at capacity, it takes at least 3 days to get an appointment with the Doctor, longer if you work commuter hours, the trains that do run do not run within the borough travel within the borough is unsupported, considering the plan makes great propaganda of the Crossrail, this has no benefits to West Horndon.

5. West Horndon is surrounded by countryside, I alone in my Garden have visiting Pipestrelle Bats, Dragonflys, Great Crested Newts, Grass snakes, Pheasants, Dunnock, Thrush, Finch, along with a selection of Tits, blackbirds etc, the surrounding areas also host Kestrel, Buzzard, Tawny Owl, Water Vole, and many butterflies and insects. Yet the Planning Committee have not carried out appropriate studies in Wildlife and habitat protection, just stating that no issues were envisaged! On whose expert opinion was this decided? Why has no consideration into biodiversity and wildlife issues?

6. Flood Risk; The strategic allocation proposes a development land extending to 25 hectares, the village was flooded in 1958, 1981, and 2012, it appears from the LDP that no assessment of drainage has been carried out, when the Environment Agency show West Horndon and Bulphan at risk of flooding. Surely this should have been done at a very early stage before valuable Borough resourses were wasted writing the Local Development Plan?

7. Loss of Employment and Employment Land ; From Brentwood Councils own Emplyment Land Review, this confirms that Horndon Industrial Estate is by far the most valuable employer area in the Borough, and is suitable for protection, why would the Borough risk the lost of Jobs and Companies in moving this area? We should be looking at improving infrastructure to and from the industrial estate not destroying it. The existing companies pay fairly low rent on older buildings, in moving to new ones there would be a great risk of increased costs forcing the companies to look elsewhere outside of the Borough

West Horndon is a nice small happy community, why are Brentwood Borough Council seeking to spoil this?