brentwood.gov.uk

I have been a resident of Honeypot Lane for 17 years and I strongly object to the proposed housing development at site 022 of the Local Development Plan for the following reasons.
Honeypot Lane is dangerous at peak times and more traffic would seriously add to congestion and delay. On an average weekday I drive backwards and forwards twice daily to my son and daughter's secondary school, Becket Keys in Sawyers Hall Lane. I also drive into Brentwood for shopping and leisure activities 2 or 3 times daily, and to after school clubs 4 or 5 times a week. If you multiply all these journeys by another 250 families you can imagine the adverse effect on local traffic.
Access to the new housing development would undoubtedly be restricted to Honeypot Lane only. An entrance onto a new housing development in Honeypot Lane would cause severe congestion at peak times with the extra traffic, and the nature of the lane would be spoiled forever. Access at the junction of Honeypot Lane/Weald Road, and between the bridge across the A12, would be inaccessible due to the extremely steep incline from the existing road down to the fields. The only other possible access road to the new housing development would be by compulsory purchasing the two end houses in the Selwood Road cul de sac, and this would cause further traffic congestion and distress to local residents.
Local infrastructure cannot sustain this housing development. It is already extremely difficult to get places at both St Peter's, the catchment primary school, and also at the nearest Secondary school, Becket Keys. Both of these schools are already massively oversubscribed. If families with children move into the proposed housing development they will have to travel by car to other schools in the area, creating a bigger carbon footprint. This will also add to the congestion at both the London Road and Weald Road junctions of Honeypot Lane. Extra traffic would impact on residents living in Park Road, and also in Weald Road, particularly at the pinch point at Bardeswell Close. Sandpit Lane is another access road which is already dangerous and cannot take more traffic from this area.
The local Doctors surgery has a waiting time of three weeks for an appointment. A new housing development of this size would not be large enough to qualify to have its own Doctors surgery and amenities (unlike Clements Park which has its own Doctors surgery, pharmacy and community hall). The proposed housing development would therefore have an adverse effect on the health service providers in this area. Extra pressure would be made on Doctors surgeries, Dental practices and the community hospital.
There are existing drainage problems in the field that has been proposed for the new housing development. We already have flooding in our back gardens during the winter months because the land naturally slopes downwards from the London Road. Historically there also used to be a natural pond behind our homes where all this water collected. Wildlife habitat would be permanently destroyed. We have deer, badgers, foxes, bats and squirrels living in the fields behind our homes not to mention many different species of birdlife.
The green belt is constantly being eroded and we should protect the few green spaces that we have left for everyone else to enjoy and not cram more houses onto every available space. Brentwood is unique for being a green and pleasant suburb and should remain so. It would therefore make much more sense to create a purpose built housing development at the proposed site200 of the LDP at Dunton Garden Village where facilities such as Schools, Doctor's surgeries, pharmacies and community meeting places could all be included in the new build.