Comment
Preferred Site Allocations 2018
Representation ID: 19374
Received: 12/03/2018
Respondent: Mr Julian How
In my view, what is required is affordable rental homes and that would be best achieved in the form of Council House developments. I would urge the Council to consider doing this particularly in the larger areas, scubas east of Shenfield and in the sites around the A127. We need to try and bring a younger population into the area and this can only be done if the properties are both affordable and rental ones.
I respond to the Local Development Plan Consultation. I have looked at the proposed development areas that are set out in the Plan. The plan envisages significant additional housing in the area. No mention seems to be made as to the type of housing proposed. I have to say that, in my view, what is required is affordable rental homes and that would be best achieved in the form of Council House developments. I would urge the Council to consider doing this particularly in the larger areas, scubas east of Shenfield and in the sites around the A127. But coming to the plan itself, where I feel that it falls short is that it does not contain any infrastructure planning to support the increase in population that the developments will bring. Most of the developments are 'out of town' which will bring significantly increased traffic and there is nothing that I can see to improve the roads and to remove bottlenecks. The roads are already overloaded. Furthermore, there is nothing that I can see planned to create additional parking both for commuters and shoppers. As it is, existing car parks are already full. What is worse is that your plan actually proposes to use existing car parks for housing, particularly in Brentwood where these car parks are, in my experience, fully utilised. Until such time as replacement and increased parking has been dealt with I would urge the Council not to develop the area further. Of course, increasing housing will not only change the character of the area but will bring consequential air and noise pollution. Crossrail will inevitably bring such of that and I would urge the Council to quantify the impact of Crossrail first before embarking on such an ambitious housing project. And finally, I would urge the Council to ensure that most of the housing development that does go ahead is for truly affordable housing which, in my opinion, has to be Council rental property. We need to try and bring a younger population into the area and this can only be done if the properties are both affordable and rental ones.