As one action group follows another and places Rochford District Council under attack once more we hear that fledgeling action group ‘The Rochford Supporters’ have launched a petition on the Councils website – ooooeeerrr….
This could be a sticky one for the Council to get out of as residents seem to be more enlightened on problems facing our area with the overdevelopment and the lack of new infrastructure that’s not forthcoming at all. Hall Road is a good example – no new school, no medical facilities… promise made are easily broken and the Council is happy just to point a finger elsewhere and play the blame game, but this doesn’t help the lady who reported recently she has made “545 calls before getting through to the doctors surgery”
In a recent article, The Rochford Supporters explained their reasoning for the petition
“The Rochford Supporters first request of the Council was to stop or revoke the Core Strategy when it had become obvious to residents that the programme of house building did not already match the infrastructure. Indeed The Council had already realised that in preparation for a New Local Plan. The policy of developing at the urban fringe is causing those big issues because of the lack of infrastructure and we thought it was sensible to stop so that the remaining target could be planned sensibly in a New Local Plan. Furthermore we were aware of the social house building programme of the Sanctuary Housing Association and the large number of Windfalls (house building not in the Core Strategy and therefore extras) so there would be delivery mitigation of housing during any interregnum. We also hoped that a caring Conservative Council would be able to negotiate with a Conservative Government who would understand the concerns of residents. When it became evident from informal feedback that the Council would not Stop The Core Strategy our further research revealed the Council has ignored a legal requirement to conduct an early review of The Core Strategy which it had committed to legally in 2011. This would have been a great opportunity to put things right. So Rochford Supporters decided that a Vote of No confidence in Rochford District Council might still bring them to their senses. “
The Rochford Supporters
Who are ‘The Rochford Supporters’?
Email: rochsupp@gmail.com
Facebook: The Rochford Supporters
Contact: Melanie English/Christine Austin
This is a particularly relevant item because in all
organisations the responsibility for performance
sits with the CEO. In the case of RDC the current
CEO was previously the Chief Planning Officer and
therefore architect of the RDC Local Plan in question.
That is just simply a statement of fact…….