Big Turn-Out In Rawreth

August

6

2 comments

Around 50 people came to last night’s Parish Council meeting in Rawreth – a high turn-out for a low population parish. during the summer holidays.

They came because of their opposition to the 770 proposed homes between Rawreth Lane and London Road.

The Parish Councillors did a good job of identifying the flaws in the Local Development Framework document that the distruct council have produced.

And Mark Francois, Ron Oatham and Chris Black , uniquely, sat in the front with the Parish Councillors and provided background information and their own viewpoints.

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  • I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to attend. Are you able to precis what the viewpoints of those that spoke up were please?

    Also from a Political representatives viewpoint – who was for and who was against and any salint points raised in support or against.

    Many Thanks, hopefully work permitting I’ll get to the next one – if there is a next one…

  • TWR – I didn’t take any notes, but I think everyone who spoke was opposed to the housing. For example, one lady came from Rayleigh, said she only found out by accident about this meeting, was particularly concerned about the extra pressure it would cause on Rayleigh station. There was also a lot of concern about the over-use of Watery Lane in the future, and of course about drainage.

    From the democratically elected representatives :

    The Rawreth Parish Councillors (Independent) are still totally opposed to what the District Council is proposing. They still have an alternative scheme, which has a smaller amount of housing in the centre of the parish which would provide a village centre, utilise Battlesbridge Rail Station and provide a reasonable amount of housing considering the size of the parish.They went through the document generally tearing it into shreds. The are concentrating on getting residents to write and object to the inspector. (I think that’s a tacit admission that they don’t believe there’s any chance that the District Council will change it’s mind at the meeting on Sept 9th).

    Ron and myself (Lib Dem District Councillors) sat at the front with the Parish Councillors Parish Clerk and Mark Francois. Like the parish council we are totally opposed to the District Council’s plans for “North of London Road”, though we think using the industrial estate is reasonable.

    Mark Francois MP (Conservative) also sat at the front with us. It’s a big plus point when your MP can come and Mark clearly felt at home and comfortable in Rawreth. There was absolutely no political bickering by the way. I don’t want to put words into Mark’s mouth but I think he made it clear that he was totally opposed to the housing as well. He said that if there was a new Conservative government the housing targets would be relaxed and ‘with luck’ (his words) the district council could drop these proposals.

    (my concern is that the administration at Rochford is just too enthusiastic to build here and even if targets were dropped RDC would still pursue the use of this site)

    Council Councillor Stephen Castle (Conservative) turned up late, sat in the public seats and didn’t say anything.

    I imagine that at the District Council meeting on Sept 9th around 32 district councillors will vote in favour of these proposals. A pity that not one of them came along last week to defend that position in front of the public.

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