brentwood.gov.uk

The LDP is doubly-flawed. In both its overall strategy and site specific detail, it fails to deliver proposals that satisfactorily meet the needs of the most important constituents in the process: existing residents.

Even if accepting the contentious Borough-wide targets for so many extra homes, achieving these by minimising development of urban areas at the expense of overwhelming use of Greenbelt land demonstrates the LDP's inadequacies. It is entirely unsympathetic to the character, environment, and people of the district.

Despite the Plan being underway since 2009, the 2018 draft has evidently been hastily assembled following Ministerial warnings to the Borough Council over undue delay. Proof of this rushed and perfunctory aspect of the Plan is shown by the late inclusion of new sites in the Parish of Blackmore, Hook End and Wyatts Green.

Previously deemed unsuitable for development in previous drafts, four separate parcels of Greenbelt land are now allocated to be housing estates within the Parish. I completely concur with my local Parish Council's submission to the LDP consultation in which it comprehensively establishes many valid reasons to scrap these proposals.

Further to the points covered in the Blackmore Parish Council submission, the LDP fails to take account of the important differences in employment and further educational opportunities for residents in rural districts against those in urban areas. These demographic and social disparities have consequential impacts on individual, family and community life.

Understanding these differences should have informed decision-making for the draft Plan. As that clearly was not the case, a revised version of the document must acknowledge this omission and ensure measures are taken to redress the situation.

There is no unfilled general employment availability in the rural areas, at least that is the undoubted position in this Parish, Therefore each additional household consisting of work-age adults and/or people in further education, will further contribute to undesirable 'surburbanisation' of the villages. In many of these cases it would entail a first commute by car - bus provision is inadequate - followed by a second commute from a transport hub to their destination.

In contrast, the Plan should be reconfigured so that the greater number of new dwellings are within easy access - preferably walking distance - of railway stations, bus interchanges, and significant commercial, industrial, and office premises. Dismally, instead of taking this common-sense approach, the Plan has been devised to produce a final reduction in the actual percentage of homes in the central area. The Plan fails to maximise the potential for new build high-density housing and tower block apartments along with conversion of existing buildings in the contracting retail urban districts. These are already based close to all the amenities lacking in the rural areas.

The draft LDP contains serious and irreversible adverse consequences for the rural and semi-rural parts of the Borough. It is a poorly conceived document and I wish to record my objection. It should be rejected by the members and officers of Brentwood Council as not fit for purpose.