The County Council’s views on how the proposed housing figures will affect schools is now on the District Council’s website.
786 Essex County Council
Significant additional schools capacity will be needed as set out below. In addition, Early Years and Childcare facilities will need to be provided in each case. Financial and land contributions from developers will be needed to deliver this infrastructure.The allocation of 300 more units than proposed to Hockley and 300 less to Rayleigh would provide a better fit in terms of maximising the use of current schools’ capacity.
Rochford/Ashingdon:- 1,000 Units The capacity of Doggetts Primary can potentially be expanded to meet the needs of up to 1,000 new homes. If the sites are poorly located for this school, a new single form entry primary school would be needed (site area required 1.1 hectares).
At secondary, King Edmund is already accommodating significantly more pupils than is recommended by the DfES for their site area. The school is forecast to remain oversubscribed. To expand, the school will need to obtain additional land.
Land to the north and east of the school is open. The school has access difficulties with significant vehicle / pedestrian conflict and congestion at the start and end of the day. Incorporation of land to the north into the school site would allow the school to expand to serve new housing while at the same time providing improved access via Bray’s Lane. The plan should allocate a minimum of 2.7 hectares of land for this purpose based on 1,000 new homes. RDC will need to consult with the School as to the precise piece of land needed.
Hockley/Hawkwell: – 400 Units Demand for both primary and secondary places in the area is forecast to fall, which should allow this number of new dwellings to be accommodated without the need for significant additional capacity.
Rayleigh: – 1,800 Units This quantum of new development is likely to require an additional two forms of entry to be added to permanent capacity across the town at both primary and secondary levels. Half of this requirement at primary level can be met by expanding existing schools. The allocation of a single housing site of around 700 units would be needed to deliver a new single form entry primary school (1.1 hectares) to make up the anticipated shortfall.
Limited expansion of Fitzwimarc and/or Sweyne Park can probably be achieved with careful planning/ negotiation with the schools.
Smaller settlements: – 500 Units The allocation of units to smaller settlements could help sustain rural primary schools within the District but would impose long term school transport costs upon the County Council that should be mitigated through developer contributions. Specific locations will require careful consideration.
The County Council must live in the same time zone as our planning department. ‘Developer contributions’? Of the new developments Rayleigh has had to take from developers can anyone quantify what the residents of Rayleigh has actually got out of the developers? We dont even know how many houses were built in the ‘affordable range’ or the cost of these affordable houses.
A good piece in the Echo today with local Councillors talking about saving the Green Belt, however if the local planners do not get their act together and start compiling up to date management information regarding house building in the district all this talk may be just that.
Chris, do you know if the local planners have actually given permission for any more Coppice Gate type developments in Rayleigh? Or can anyone else help with this question?
Hi Mike – No, I don’t think there’s anything passed recently as big as Coppicegate.
They say we need more school in the area now because of all the building that has been going on. Then way did they close the park school site and build house on it. Coz now they are going to have to build the new school on green belt land