brentwood.gov.uk

My family would like to make clear our objection to the above proposal for the reasons highlighted below: We live in (name of Road) and we already experience excess traffic (which is usually above the 20mph limit) cutting through from the Weald Road or London Road direction. 200 extra properties in our area would put a dramatic increase on traffic around our home and this would greatly inconvenience us, encouraging further cut-throughs and making our road more dangerous for our children. Furthermore, we presume that there will be an entry point to the new site on or close to Selwood Road, which would have a direct impact on us, being situated at one end of this road. Currently we live in an environment where we would be happy for the children to play in our front garden and we feel that it's unfair to entirely change this, meaning that this could no longer be possible. This will therefore have a detrimental effect on our enjoyment of our home and ultimately our lives in Brentwood. Our children attend St Peter's School in South Weald and we walk to/from school most days. This is a popular school and is always over-subscribed. Some years, no children from within the catchment area are accepted due to siblings and allocation of church places. There is no capacity for extra spaces at this school and the residents of your proposed housing will almost certainly be expecting to attend. In 2016, St Peter's gained funding in order to accept an extra 15 children. Even these extra families have added unnecessary pressure onto the school and its resources - particularly the roads around the school and in the church car park. On a daily basis, people park inconsiderately either on the road or in the car park, and each morning the road is gridlocked around school drop-off and collection times. We have witnessed accidents, road rage and pedestrian near misses (including children), all because of the pressures on Wigley Bush Lane and Weald Road. Even if the school were to increase in size to accommodate further local families, the infrastructure around South Weald is just not set up for the impact this new housing would have. It's a rural area and in our opinion, that's how it should stay. A proposal such as this will increase these traffic issues further and eventually Essex Highways or Brentwood Borough Council will have to take action to resolve this, or they may have a serious accident to deal with. From Honeypot Lane it's not possible to walk to school directly as there is no path, and walking via the Homesteads and Brook Road/Spital Lane would be too far for the majority of people. Therefore, anyone travelling to school from this new area would have to drive and this would be worse for our environment, result in more traffic on the roads, more cars in the car park, and more potential for accidents. This is not a risk we would be willing to take, particularly as there are children involved. This area simply can't cope with 200 more families who may potentially wish to attend St Peter's, or 200 extra cars driving around our roads. We believe that this site was previously rejected as it did not meet your own Spatial Strategy. In your recently published documentation, you state that there is "an emphasis upon protecting and enhancing local character". The residents of the precise location in which you are proposing to place this development will be directly affected by this housing. We presume that currently the residents of these homes in the private Hill Road look out onto fields. We would imagine that their view of green belt was a key factor in these people choosing to live in these homes. It's not like someone taking down a tree which exposes an ugly building - it's the difference between having an uninterrupted view of the countryside and someone being able to look into your bathroom. We always enjoy walking around the Homesteads and this experience and that of the residents living there will almost certainly be spoilt by the proposed housing. This totally contradicts your claim that you wish to protect and enhance local character. In addition, one of your published strategic objectives regarding Environmental Protection & Enhancement is to "Safeguard the Green Belt from inappropriate development and enhance its beneficial use." Extra housing in an area such as this does not safeguard the green belt, it entirely ruins it. You mention also that the watercourse is one of your considerations, and this must surely present many problems which could greatly affect the proposal. Many roads around that area (including Honeypot Lane and part of Weald Road) regularly flood after heavy rain and presumably this is not helped by the close proximity to the brook and other water sources around this. Not only would this proposal ruin the aesthetics of the area, it would also require interference in a natural source of water which is currently just fine as it is, running through an uninhabited area and around existing properties. Seven years ago we chose to move to Brook Road as this was a quiet area and the garden is relatively unaffected by the noise pollution of traffic. With the proposed increase in residents in our area, and therefore traffic, this will almost certainly change and our enjoyment of our much loved home will change with it. This area appealed to us as it's a perfect combination of a rural environment (close to Metropolitan Green Belt and unspoilt areas), yet accessible to the town centre (and our children's school). You are proposing to take this beauty away from us and we all feel that this is extremely selfish and will totally change our way of life. In conclusion, we feel that this is an ill-considered proposal which will have a detrimental effect on the existing residents of this area. We have not spoken to a single person who lives in this area who is in agreement with the proposal and we find it impossible to believe that there are not more suitable options under consideration.