brentwood.gov.uk

I am objecting to CP4 concerning West Horndon and the proposed development of 1500 new homes in the village. I understand there is need for some development and would not object to a sustainable development on existing building areas. I would not condone ANY development on green belt.
In the LDP it states that 1500 new homes be built in West Horndon which would treble the size of the village drastically changing the character and feel of the existing community. The scale of the development would effectively create a new settlement.
There is no evidence or reason why West Horndon should have 43% of the boroughs housing requirement.
It states West Horndon has excellent transport links, but the current transport infrastructure can just about cope with the traffic and commuters it already has. By adding 1500 new homes the 'excellent' transport links would collapse completely.
The train line cannot add any more trains or services to West Horndon as there are only 2 lines and these already run at capacity. The rush hour services operate a 12 carriage service and that is the maximum we can have on the line, later trains could have extra carriages but it's the early trains that need them which as stated are already at capacity.
The A127 is already at critical capacity in the rush hours especially going into London in the morning and heading towards Southend in the evening with long tale backs occurring every day. With the expansion of Southend airport this will only increase, factor in the traffic from 1500 new homes and we face further chaos. The existing access and exits to the A127 are unsuitable for the current traffic and would have to be updated at great expense.
The A128 suffers same issues and currently the access point via station road is a very dangerous junction for motorists trying to access the A128. Driving into Brentwood you have to use the A128 and the traffic is often backed up to the halfway house in the mornings. This can be worse if road works are in place or if there is an accident on the A127. There is no way that you could widen the A128 in the critical area of Herongate and Ingrave. Travelling in the other direction towards the A13 the traffic in the mornings is back up past Orsett and the Orsett cock roundabout is always busy. With more houses proposed in Orsett and the 1500 in West Horndon this junction would also require major works at great cost.
The M25 has recently been widened and could cope with extra traffic from 1500 new homes, however to access it you need to travel along the A127 and as I have already pointed out it would not be able to cope with extra traffic.
There is a very poor bus service at the moment with bus companies not keen to extend their routes into West Horndon. This has always been a problem. If by some miracle more buses were provided it would add to the traffic woes on the A128.
The LDP also states that our infrastructure is good with a range of shops and amenities. In real life we have a small local shop and a small mini market neither of which could be expanded but would be out of business if new shops were put in.
We have an oversubscribed Doctor's surgery which would need to be expanded if new homes were built.
The school is at near full capacity and would have to be expanded at great cost to accommodate the children 1500 new homes would bring. Currently the secondary education for our children is Brentwood based but all of the schools are oversubscribed.
There is a café in the village which relies on its custom workers on the industrial estate again they would lose their core business and be put out of business if the industrial estate was redeveloped into housing.
There is a restaurant in the village which would benefit from more customers. There is one local pub which again would benefit from more customers.
The infrastructure of our utilities would need millions spent on updating. Currently West Horndon's electric supply is main overhead and this would have to be put underground. Our gas would also have to be updated, there are many small gas leaks reported in the village each year.
The main problem is with our water waste disposal with our sewer systems unable to cope with the current output from homes. If we have a period of rain then the drains overflow throughout the village. There would have to be a thorough overhaul of the whole system.
Which brings me onto the flooding situation in the village. Having had my house flooded on Christmas day causing over twenty five thousand pounds worth of damage I am only too familiar with the real problem we experience in the village. The whole village is built on London clay and as such any sustained period of rainfall results in surface flooding throughout the village. When there is a prolonged period such as we had last year then the water table is at ground level which means we experience flash flooding causing damage to homes and property. West Horndon is on a flood plain having been part of the Thames flood plain hundreds of years ago. With global warming and rising sea levels it would be madness to build further on these areas. Furthermore these are not isolated incidents West Horndon has experience 3 major recorded floods in modern times but we experience continued minor flooding EVERY year. Our surrounding fields, gardens, ditches and roads are ALL affected. At present the fields in West Horndon act as a holding buffer for water flowing off Thorndon Park. If we were to develop on these fields then we would lose that and areas South of the village such Bulphan and South Ockendon would experience further flooding which goes against the national guidelines for LDP's saying that nod development should affect the surrounding areas.
In the LDP is states that there should be provision for employment. By proposing the redevelopment of the industrial estates we would lose employment. Hundreds of jobs would be lost, with no evidence of new ones being created. It says a new purpose built industrial park will be built, but there are no plans or evidence of this happening. It it's not build before the redevelopment then existing business will be forced from the borough. The biggest employers on the estate are haulage and courier companies. The reason they are there is easy access to the M25 and arterial Essex roads. For them to continue they would have to have the same or similar access meaning they would have to stay on the A127 and the only other industrial estates are Childerditch which is in Havering, Basildon or Laindon which come under Basildon or Romford which again comes under Havering. So not only would valuable jobs be lost they would move of the borough which goes against the core policies within the LDP.
The LDP in its current format is unsustainable for the proposed development of 1500 new homes in West Horndon.
If BBC could show that sustainable redevelopment of the industrial estates could be achieved with the necessary updating of ALL the infrastructure and amenities then I would not be against such a revision to the LDP.