There are NO elections in Downhall ward , Rawreth or Grange ward this week!
Though the election results elsewhere in Rayleigh ARE going to be important for everyone living in West Rayleigh and Rawreth.
It’s West Rayleigh and Rawreth who have borne the brunt of over-development … maybe now it’s payback time?
I don’t see this as payback time more of an alternative to the current regime which is not about really fighting for what residents want. it’s about keeping the party line because that is what they are told. Not really listening to the people of this lovely town more about doing what they are told to do. WE do not have outdated ideas about what the youth want in 2008. They do not want to be scouts or cadets or any other outdated relic of some bygone age. True, there are some youngsters that are happy to join this type of club and that is really pleasing but the vast majority want something different. We must find alternatives to these outdated views. We must restrict development in Rayleigh which is already spiralling out of control, the residents again are pivotal here. Then there must be a little more free thinking. Instead of building …… number of flats, build a swimming pool, or a bowling alley or both. There would be enough revenue coming in to these two options to be attractive to commercial developers. The town has to move on but not in the way the current encumbents would like.
We now have a young (I take myself out of that statement, in age anyway!) Team that could really work well for the town. No more cobwebs or outdated views. We would not be afraid to fight for less development and less anti-social behaviour. This is my first campaign and I am heartened by the response residents have given. we must look at the infrastructure before submitting to national government. We are the local party and will work for local people NOT the national party.
Good luck to all the LibDems and the Independents, We are the people who can put this town back on the right track.
Interesting comment Mike about working for ‘local people’ and ‘NOT the national party.’ I have given this a lot of thought recently. Yes, I absolutely agree that councillors must represent the views of residents yet I find myself asking what would happen if every constituency had the power to stop housing development
because the majority of residents didn’t want any new homes to be built? I agree that infrastructure is of the utmost importance too but it cannot be denied that more homes are needed. I feel that there must be a balance and that sometimes we need to look at the bigger picture as well as the local one.
At the end of the street where I live, planning permission was denied for some retirement flats. I agree with that decision because the development was not in keeping with the street scene. However, one of the complaints was that there were enough retirement apartments in Rayleigh already. Maybe some folk have an “I’m alright Jack” attitude. More retirement flats are needed because we have an increasing ageing population, many of whom would like to live in an apartment. They need to be built somewhere! I just hope that any new district councillors have the opportunity to stand up for what is right for Rochford District, striking a balance between what is needed without compromising the quality of life.
And not a word of Latin in sight 😉
Alison I agree with some of what you have said, there certainly does need to be some consideration for retirement properties. One way of combating this is for developers to have to build a percentage of retirement properties in a new development, in exactly the same way as they have to do affordable housing and key worker housing?
Also what needs to be considered is that although most towns are growing, before development can happen, thought has to go into the existing infrastructure and amenities, and if inadequate, as in the case of Rayleigh currently on both points, what will be done to infrastructure and amenities to ensure that our town can cope with the population increase and also, ensure that these are going to ensure that the properties being built will sell. How many houses are still up for sale at Quest End, and they were build completed almost a year ago!!!
Verba latina non video …
Sid, does that translate into “my video isn’t recording”?
meus latin est non valde bonus
Corey, if you are that keen on latin maybe we can get Asda to build a genuine Roman Temple in Temple Way!
I can’t get ASDA to keep quiet at night, so will have precious little luck in getting them to build a Roman Temple!!
Interesting points Corey. Wouldn’t it be great if everyone could work together to brainstorm ideas about lock-in affordability.
Sid, I did wave to you yesterday as I was driving up London Hill. Next time I’ll be sure to shout “Salve!” instead.
All the best for tomorrow everyone.
Ora et labora.
It would be great Alison if we could all work together. Let’s just hope that after tomorrow we have made a huge leap forward in making that a possibility!
Absolutely.
Alison, Corey, some good ideas. See we are working together already. Seriously, the issue of retirement homes are vital here. A lot of the people who are looking for these retirement homes live in two/three bedroomed houses. By building retirement homes we would be freeing these houses to go onto the market. By their nature retirement homes take up less space than family homes.
Alison, I agree we must not stop residential building but we must do it more sensitively. Rayleigh has to take some more but given what we have taken already we must look at what increase we could take before we spoil this town completely. We are not able to take large scale developments because we just do not have the infrastructure to cope. The Tories would be happy to dump these houses on us with a pledge to increase facilities at a later date. This cannot be allowed to happen. We are almost at breakpoint now, we cannot take anymore until we get an absolute cast iron guarantee that the infrastructure will be enhanced at the same time that new housing is built and that aint gonna happen, not with the regime we have at the moment.
What I mean about inclusive local government is that we all work for the good of the local people, not for the good of the national Party. To me the National Party and the Local Party are like ‘Venus and Mars’ The national parties do not really care about what goes on locally, and I apologise to all local MP’s but you have your masters to report to. We do not, we can work for the local people, if we are elected.
House Builders, I believe, have missed an opportunity here. They bemoan the lack of people buying their new builds because of not being able to get mortgages. If they stopped thinking about their ever increasing fat profits and for once thought ethically about what they could do to help people and get the economy going again they would build AFFORDABLE homes for the less well off, first time buyers. They are also in a prime position to look at alternative ways to get mortgages for their customers. Instead they just build fewer homes, where’s the logic in this apart from protecting their huge profits?
Lets hope we get the chance to give the district of Rochford and alternative way forward