brentwood.gov.uk

When the East of England New Homes policy was introduced to Brentwood residents we were asked to comment on it. We were informed how many new homes were being proposed for Brentwood and asked what number we thought would be appropriate. My pragmatic, and I believe fair, answer was as many as brown fill sites in our area would accommodate. Since then my preference for building on brown fill and other sites, situated in our town, has reversed for two reasons - the first, a negative one, the second, a positive. Four or five years ago, following the development of the Highwood and Little Highwood hospital sites, one of the two single handed G.P.s working on there retired leaving 1500 patients without a doctor. I was at this time, and continue to be, a member of the patient participation group at my doctors' practice in the town. I learnt that my practice had offered to take over the practice on the Highwood Hospital site provided it was not out of pocket, ie the PPG (as it was at the time) would pay for the rent and upkeep of the surgery and for staffing it, as another G.P. would have to be employed - the PPG refused to accept the costs insisting that the patients could be absorbed onto the lists of local G.P.s. Our practice manager contacted our P.P.G. members, as a matter of urgency, to ask us if we should close our list to new patients, as the other local practices had. With there being a two to three week wait for a non-urgent G.P. appointment, even then, the answer was a resounding yes. It was only then, when 1500 patients were bereft of a G.P., that the P.P.G. agreed to the terms offered by my practice. I find this attitude to the provision of an important local service alarming and I am fearful for the wellbeing of the residents of Brentwood if new homes are built within close proximity of the town, whether it be on brown fill sites or other areas, as currently proposed. It goes without saying that this could be the tip of the iceberg as other important services such as schools could suffer from local overdevelopment. This makes no mention of the obvious increase in traffic that we have seen and will have to endure further, if these developments go ahead and because of the stop/start nature of the vehicles in these traffic jams, the increase in pollution and resulting health problems. On a positive note, I was very impressed with the plans for the Dunton Garden Village. With its integrated infrastructure this will offer tremendous advantages, in so many ways, over developing the town and its nearby environs. One small example of this would be the provision of locality shops and I believe it is interesting to note that, despite being enlarged, the Sainsburys car park still gets very full and can be quite a dangerous place both for drivers and pedestrians. I strongly believe that a number of satellite developments, such as Dunton Garden Village, will offer the best solution to the need for new homes in our area despite these settlements having to be developed on green belt land which I understand some of the proposed sites are anyway. I am also confident that fewer people would be affected by this type of development as these sites will be in less populated areas and, because of their self reliance, there would be less traffic coming into Brentwood which would be a big benefit for so many residents living in and close to the town. There will no doubt be a great deal of "nimbyism" over any proposal, but for my part my wife and I have often discussed our indifference to the field between where we live in Viking Way and the A12 being built on as, on the one hand we would lose some open land, which I believe was at one time designated as green belt, but buildings on it would shelter us from some of the road noise from the A12 - this has been measured and found to be above an acceptable level but in these times of austerity nothing has been done about it. On the subject though, it does strike me as being a strange choice for development as nine or ten years ago, when Brentwood Council was charged with finding sites for travellers (I believe the scheme was dropped following a change of government), the field in question was under consideration for such a site but it was removed from the list because it was considered to be unsafe for travellers to live there as it represented a health hazard owing to the levels of pollution from the A12. To summarise, the planners could follow what seems to be happening at present and develop the area in and around Brentwood town even further, squeezing out a large number of green areas, creating an infrastructure pushed beyond its capacity and creating traffic chaos along with the accompanying health risks from pollution. The alternative would be radical and would represent "thinking outside the box". It would upset fewer residents, in total, and give rise to less of the problems highlighted above, giving rise to all residents finding Brentwood a more pleasant place to live compared with the alternative. I firmly believe developing more sites like the Dunton Garden Village would be the best choice for Brentwood and, more importantly, its residents. I guess it comes down to the quality of life that it is considered appropriate for Brentwood residents, old and new. This could be maintained for those currently living in Brentwood and a really good quality of life could be afforded to the newcomers. Alternatively, it could be diminished for all of us.