The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association

The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association represents the interests of users of public transport in the Brentwood district.
Its aims and objectives are fourfold:
* To make representations on behalf of Brentwood's bus and rail users on the local services that are currently available and to campaign for new services to be .
* To campaign for more investment in local bus and rail services.
* To have regular dialogue with the local transport providers and Essex County Council.
* To work with other organisations and individuals to improve and develop local bus and rail services in our area.
In pursuit of these aims and objectives it wishes to comment on the implications of the Local Development Plan as amended by the Extraordinary Council Meeting on 8th November 2018.
The Plan will clearly have far-reaching implications for Brentwood's public transport network. First, it changes significantly the size and distribution of the borough's population and the consequent additional requirements for ways to access work, health and education, shopping and leisure. Secondly it will add to the already problematic traffic congestion issues at known pinch-points in the borough, which are already making it very difficult for bus operators to maintain a regular and efficient service.
It is therefore a matter of extreme concern for the Association that there are only four references to public transport in the document citing preferred allocations.
Most are in the aspirational vein of the Strategic Objectives
* Improve public transport infrastructure and ensure development sites are well
connected to bus and/or rail connections.
* Secure the delivery of new infrastructure to support a lower carbon future including
electric vehicles charging points and other measures.
* Improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough and establish a grid or
network of green transport corridors.
This contrasts with health and school capacity, which are dealt with in some detail.
There are no references to traffic congestion, to which the Plan will clearly contribute. There are three references to bus services, one in the strategic objective and two in relation to one preferred site for an employment site which "has the potential" for development of bus services i.e. there are none at the moment.
It is difficult to see how a plan can be called strategic without proper consideration of public transport (i.e. buses as rail transport relates to travel in and out of the borough) within the borough. There is no mention of how congestion, which already inhibits travel within the borough and is predicted to increase even without the additional housing and business development.
There is limited scope for road improvements in the borough and additional developments are
outside the control of the planning authority. Increased congestion will impact on the ability of bus
operators to provide a regular and efficient service, reducing the extend to which they will be taken
up by users and increasing the likelihood that they will prove uneconomic and be withdrawn.
The impact of the proposed allocations
Central Area
The Ford Offices are excluded from this section and allocated to the Outer Area in the table below as
the site, although served by buses, is too far for most people to consider the station walkable while
Brentwood High St most certainly is not.
It is assumed that most people would find it possible to walk to Brentwood station and to the High
Street. A regular bus service is available from Warley (Council Depot) and from close to the Shenfield
sites (Priests Lane is walkable to Brentwood High Street but probably closer to Shenfield Station).
Outer Area
The sites in the outer area (beyond reasonable walking distance) present some difficulty. Some (Sow
& Grow and the three Warley sites (Ford Offices, Mascalls Lane and Pastoral Way) are close to bus
routes to Brentwood Station and High Street. For convenience, residents may choose to drive rather
than wait for the regular bus services (to which they have to walk). Brook Street has a regular bus
service to the High Street but not to the station and people are likely to drive there rather than
change buses in the High Street.
Ingatestone
The Ingatestone developments are just about walkable from the station and the limited number of
shops in Ingatestone High Street. The train service from Ingatestone is less frequent than from
Shenfield and people are therefore likely to drive there rather than use their local station. There is a
half-hourly bus service into Brentwood but many people are likely to opt to drive.
Northern Villages
Existing bus services are not sufficiently attractive to residents to persuade them to use them rather
than to drive. The addition of 169 additional units is unlikely to change the economics until bus
companies can justify later evening services for returning commuters and socialising residents. It is
likely than buses will remain very much the less favoured option. The consequence is higher volumes
of traffic on feeder roads into Brentwood such as the already-congested A128 and Doddinghurst
Road.
Dunton Garden Village
It is likely that residents of the proposed Dunton Garden Village will look towards Basildon and
Lakeside for their shopping and leisure activities, meaning that the injection of consumer spend in
the core settlement of Brentwood is likely to be minimal. The demand for public transport will
reflect this, with the benefit of increased capacity and potential new routes spread laterally along
the A127/A13 corridor than northwards into the rest of the borough.
Congestion
Any additional or enhanced bus services into Brentwood will have to cope with increased congestion
in the mornings on the A128 through Herongate and Ingrave - in fact it is difficult to see how much
more traffic can be accommodated on this section of road even without additional developments.
Brentwood's centre is already heavily congested at peak times, especially since the County Council's
revised school transport policy has left many parents from the Northern Villages in particular reliant
on private transport. The congestion is acute on the A128 from Pilgrims Hatch into Brentwood and
from Herongate/Ingrave, with consequent congestion on Shenfield and London Roads. There are
other bottlenecks in Kings Road and around the cluster of schools in Sawyers Hall Lane.
All of this will only get worse as the number of vehicles follows the predicted increase and the
addition of more than 2,000 homes around Brentwood but outside walking distance (and excluding
Ingatestone and Dunton) will only make things worse.
There will be consequences for parking (already barely adequate at peak times), pollution with the
levels of gases and particulates increasing to the detriment of people's health, and for the viability of
commercial bus services as their reliability and regularity is challenged.
All this makes the Plan's strategic objective ("to improve public transport infrastructure and ensure
development sites are well connected to bus and/or rail connections") a massive challenge.
Commercial partners will not join until the revenue benefits are clear and the costs defined. It is
unlikely this will precede the developments. In some cases (Northern Villages) the proposed
developments are too small to make more than a marginal difference to the economics of public
transport but they will suffer most if the road system is catastrophically congested.
The Other Strategic Objective
The Plan offers the following objective: "to improve cycling and walking facilities across the Borough
and establish a grid or network of green transport corridors".
Cycling and walking are technically possible in the central and outer areas now. In practice
Brentwood is a hostile environment for both cyclists and pedestrians. For the former, pavements are
in a degraded state across the borough and the County Council's belated allocation of £700,000
across the County in reality allows little scope for massive improvement. Opportunities to negotiate
crossings in the High Street and immediate area are few and far between, with the priority always
seeming to be swung towards motorised traffic and the mantra of keeping traffic flows constant.
For cyclists, Brentwood is a potential death trap, with the residual potholes that fail to meet ECC
criteria for repair a constant and potentially lethal hazard. The general absence of cycle lanes
militates against safe use of the main roads; junctions are structured for vehicles and not bicycles.
For the outer areas, the high speed of traffic on the main routes, the narrowness of lanes and the
absence of cycle lanes militates against their use.
Conclusion
The Brentwood Bus and Rail Users recognises the imperative on Brentwood Borough Council to
provide additional housing in the area. It is, however, deeply concerned that the number and
distribution of proposed new dwellings will, if car ownership remains unchanged, place an
impossible burden on the existing road system and in particular on the existing network of bus
services. Delays to buses caused by congestion will not encourage greater use - and we fear the
reverse, with proportionately more people using private transport.
With no reference in the Plan to innovative solutions such as park-and-ride, and only lip service paid
to the encouragement of cycling and walking as an alternative, the Association fails to see how the
requirement that delivery of the Plan is environmentally sustainable can be met.
David Jobbins
Vice Chair, Brentwood Bus and Rail Users' Association