It is worth repeating what Rawreth Parish Councillor Lyn Hopkins sent us as a comment :
There was also a large turnout of concerned Rawreth residents at their exhibition last Thursday. Indeed the officers said they were completely taken by surprise by the number of people attending. They said they had not had this kind of response at any of the previous exhibitions.
It was pointed out that this because the residents of Rawreth, and also Rawreth Parish Council were very worried indeed at the prospect of 1800 houses being built in their area. Many residents were very angry indeed at the prospect and again, the officers were very vague in their responses and did not advise that objections could be made to their proposals..
It is now essential that all those who attended, and all those who were unable to go, write in clearly stating their objections and saying what we all believe, the houses should be spread around the whole district, giving fair shares for all.
This is the only way we are going to retain the ?village? nature of our area and not turn a village into a town.
The Echo also reports on it here:
SCORES of concerned residents turned out to have a say over plans for more than 3,000 new homes across the Rochford district.
A display outside Rawreth Village Hall allowed visitors to see where new housing might be built – and proved so popular the council ran out of booklets explaining the proposals.
We agree with Lyn that people should be encouraged to respond to the consultation, even though it is vague. If you are against 1800 houses for Rayleigh and/or Rawreth you should say so.
In the next 72 hours we are hoping to print an extra-big A3 size Focus with the complete consultation form attached and start to deliver it through Downhall and Rawreth Ward. Although we have a pretty good delivery team, offers of help would be gratefully received.!
Hi all
I have to say that the map which was available at the consultation roadshow in the Village Hall carpark was singularly unhelpful. At first I thought I was struggling because I am so new to the area, but as others gathered around, I realised from their comments that we were all struggling!
Surely, the omission of roads and key landmarks as features of this consultation map cannot be easily excused? It certainly does not help to ‘inform’…
On a more positive note, I did hear the RDC officers repeatedly make mention of the opportunities for comment via the website and other means. And this in spite of the significant number of folk who wandered up with the opening gambit “So, where are these 1800 houses in Rawreth going to be?” For many, I suspect, the idea of this being a consultation on proposals is a distant thought…
Do continue to agitate for more folk to contribute their thoughts (so long as they are constructive and not just of the NIMBY-variety)…