brentwood.gov.uk

Whilst you state that "it is important to consider allowing villages to grow in order to provide for local need" you also need to consider the local infrastructure of villages. For example Blackmore has one shop. Already this gets incredibly busy with cars parked on the road and corners of the road making it dangerous to pull out onto the main road and cross as a pedestrian - there are no pedestrian crossings. Have you considered how this one shop will support more families - there is no room for expansion? There is only one primary school which is already at capacity - how will this cope with more families moving to the area? Does this mean we have to travel further to send our children to school - not very environmentally friendly; as I understood it one of the Governments key policies is around environment and sustainability - you would be solving one problem and creating another. Equally Blackmore gets a lot of visitors at the weekend, especially in summer months so there are even more cars along with cyclists, walkers etc. It is a busy enough village without adding to it. Nine Ashes has already had new housing built within the last year and Blackmore is fit to bursting with houses and people. Will our rural locations no longer be rural?
You state that "Local roads provide access to connecting A-roads such as the A414, which provides access to the M11 and Chelmsford without driving on the highway network" - this is a total nightmare for Blackmore and Nine Ashes which are both used as a "rat run" / cut through for an increasing number of cars, the majority of whom completely disregard the speed limit imposed. There is a 30mph speed limit outside our house and 90% of cars drive well over this, some at double the speed. This is so dangerous given there is a local primary school which they fly past. We have requested on a number of occasions for speed cameras and footpaths which you have rejected. You are wanting to channel more cars onto the A414 for people to access the M11 etc - the A414 is already packed with cars at rush hour. Equally have you tried to get on a train from Chelmsford or Ingatestone to London during rush hour or even tried to park in the station car parks? They are packed already, how are they going to cope with more people using local stations?
You need to seriously consider the local infrastructure and addressing this if you are considering such areas for housing developments. You can't build houses without the right local infrastructure support as although you will be meeting your targets you will adding to other problems and issues.