Object
Preferred Site Allocations 2018
Representation ID: 18226
Received: 12/03/2018
Respondent: Mrs Annette Moorhouse
Brentwood Borough Council has not proved that this site is deliverable due to concerns over road safety and the lack of access to the site.
The Council should acquire the land for Public use as playing fields and part could be reserved for any expansion of the Endeavour and Hogarth Schools which will be neccessary in the future. It hasn't shown how it would replace the playing field.
The Council has not shown sufficient evidence to support it's plan and it does not adequately explain how it will deal with traffic or provide the additional facilities for the growing population.
OBJECTIONS TO INCLUSION OF SITES 044 AND 178
I strongly object to the inclusion of these sites for the reasons listed below:-
Once designated in the LDP these sites will lose their Protected Open Urban Space designation. This designation should not be removed. Once it has been lost it is lost forever. Development of the sites should be rejected for the following reasons:
* The site accesses proposed are all unsafe for a housing development of this size onto a lane that is already too winding, narrow and dangerous, having become designated as a main distributary road over time; the Council's proposal to use Bishop Walk does not resolve the safety problem;
* In addition, traffic often queues back from the junction of Priests Lane and Middleton Hall Lane to beyond the site access points. Developing the site would make this problem worse making travel at peak times intolerable;
* The site suffers from surface water issues and both Thames Water and XXX state that it would need serious thought and remediation to develop.
* The sites are immediately adjacent to two schools which either need expansion or are at their maximum buildings to free space ratio; the Council has recognised that school
expansion is needed to meet future needs, so development for houses prior to determining where schools should expand is short-sighted;
* Previous Open Space audits have identified a lack of open space in West Shenfield and this land has previously been identified as having value to the community as open space, despite it being in privately owned. Previous Council reports have recommended acquiring land in this area if it becomes available to address this lack. Both Sport England and the Essex Playing Fields Association objected to the development, concluding that this would contravene Paragraph 79 of the NPPF.
* While the Plan may suggest that brownfields sites be developed before greenfield sites, the Council have no way to control this in practice, and therefore it is probable that these sites will be developed before brownfield sites if the protection is removed.
The Priests Lane Neighbourhood Residents Association has given the council detailed evidence as to why the site is unsuitable and should be excluded.
., it is long on words and short on facts and does not adequately show evidence to support the inclusion of these sites.