“Rochford Fears Possible Merger With Wickford”

Slightly surprising comments in the Echo from Councillor Keith Hudson, bearing in mind that the Conservative Group has already voted to allocate enough housing to double the population of the parish of Rawreth, that also causes a merger with both Hullbridge and Rayleigh:

ROCHFORD Council fears overdevelopment in Wickford could lead to it merging with Rawreth. Major development is in store for Wickford over the next 17 years, which campaigners claim could change the face of the town forever.About 2,800 homes are planned by 2031 as part of Basildon Council?s local plan, with 760 homes to the south, 620 to the north-west, 220 on the western edge and 150 to the north-east. Rochford Council shares residents? concerns claiming the influx of new homes ? particularly plans for 150 properties north east of Wickford ? will lead to the town becoming indistinguishable from neighbouring Rawreth.

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  • I was staggered and am still spluttering with disbelief/rage to read in the Echo tonight that Cllr.Hudson has criticised the amount of new build planned for Wickford as it will run Wickford into Rawreth and does not take account of the infrastructure of Rawreth and Rayleigh. Pot, kettle black comes to mind. How the mastermind behind the concreting over of our greenbelt can speak against another council planning to do the same thing is beyond me. Trying to shift the blame around a bit maybe.

    I don’t know which muppet in central Government decided that each authority had to produce action plans rather than looking at a county (any county not just here) overall and having one joined up plan in place that dealt with whole, including health, schools, roads, buffer zones between towns and villages etc. etc. but whoever he/she was they need firing.

  • Without breaking any code of conduct,I would like to say I am somewhat surprised at the Councillors comments! Black kettles came to my mind as well Christine. This Councillor does seem to have a fair amount of publicity courtesy of the Echo . Staggering!

  • So , £2.1 million spent over 7 years and they have only just realised that the Core Plan ( for each district ) is going to overwhelm the existing status quo – DOH !!!!!!!!.

    They are either incompetent ( gets my vote ) or this is the thin edge of the wedge
    In sowing the seeds of ” the local infrastructure is being overloaded by adjacent councils “. Read between the lines – I would’nt trust them with my shopping list.

    I say again – how do we get a vote of no confidence in place?????.

  • I was so annoyed I wrote to Cllr Hudson directly , I’ve had a response and apparently we should be grateful he managed to reduce the numbers from 1800 to ‘just’ 550 and the appropriate authorities will provide the necessary infrastructure – Yeh right ( lol ).

    It will be interesting to watch the blame game develop between adjacent Tory run
    Councils , and as Brian says above there must be a motive for this pre- emotive attack on the Basildon District Plans.

    But that is’nt really the point we need Chris / John to succeed with their quest for a
    Public meeting on Infrastructure because we will get nothing otherwise.

  • HOPE ( maybe?????) – in tonight’s Evening Echo quote :-
    Plans to build 1400 homes to the West of Billericay, which sparked outrage in the town, have been shelved.
    County Hall bosses have vetoed the idea, and now Basildon’s Tory administration
    say the area cannot handle the housing.
    Senior Tories have admitted the influx of homes would lead to slaughter on the roads, with Billericay already at bursting point.”

    Sounds a familiar story to me and proves that if you invade / overwhelm a Council
    meeting you might then get taken seriously – wake up Rayleigh / Hullbridge/ Wickford.

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