In response to the East of England Regional Authority starting to plan up to 2031, a consortium have made a proposal to build 10,000 homes on the Southend/Rochford borders!
Of course, 10,000 is a huge number of homes – much more than even the government will require us to build.
For those readers of Onlinefocus who like ferreting out details, here are the people involved:
A Submission by Colonnade Land LLP
21 October 2008
EERA CALL FOR DEVELOPMENT PROPOSALS ? SEASIDE, SOUTHEND AND ROCHFORD STRATEGIC
DEVELOPMENT AREAS
Iceni Projects Ltd on behalf of Colonnade Land LLP (October 2008)Contact Details
Title (Mr/Mrs/Miss etc) Mr J Waterhouse
Promoting organisation Iceni Projects on behalf of Colonnade Land LLP
Address 83 Victoria Street, London
SW1H 0HWOther development partners (if applicable)
Gallions, Moat and Hastoe Housing Associations, The Garon Trust
Location – Parishes: Rochford and Southend East
This is an extract from their document:
Two Strategic Development Areas (SDAs) are proposed ?
Fossetts SDA and Bournes Green SDA. Both are located on the
northern urban fringe of Southend Urban Area. A substantial
proportion of the land falls within the Borough of Rochford
although the land traverses both Southend and Rochford
Boroughs. Significantly, the land lies to the east of London
Southend Airport and new access to both the Airport and the rest
of Southend is a central component of the development concept.Size of site (hectares) 441Ha (Fossetts SDA is 189Ha and Bournes Green is 252Ha)
Current use of land Primarily Agriculture.
Extent of previously developed land :Nominal.
Number of dwellings that the proposal will deliver by 2021, 2031, beyond:The proposal could deliver up to 5,000 dwellings by 2021 and up
to 10,000 dwellings by 2031 based on an average annual delivery
rate of 500 dwellings per annum. Part of the Bournes Green SDA
has been submitted to the Southend LDF Call for Sites for
possible allocation in the Site Allocations DPD which would
enable delivery to occur from the beginning of the plan period.
Colonnade’s website is here – though there is nothing about Southend or Rochford yet.
They say about themselves:
We create the opportunity through the land acquisition and planning process to establish communities on a proper, infrastructure-first basis.
Infrastructure first? Now that’s an idea!
How do these proposals square with:-
“Our district has the third lowest recorded rates of migration in the whole of England. This isn’t to do with migration in and out of the country – it seems that comparatively few people move in and out of our district”
Either we need the housing because everybody is moving to the SE to work or we don’t? Jobs in Southend? What jobs?
Don’t have an issue with building affordable housing but only 35%, at the very most, of any new housing will be “affordable” i.e. 65% of housing will be at the luxury end of the market…
Agree with “infrastructure first” HOWEVER there is a severe lack of infrastructure in and around Rochford/Southend and no proposals that I’m aware of to improve matters?
Do these people know how difficult it is to travel around this district at peak times – let alone trying to get to the great Metropolis to earn a living?
Roads are in meltdown constantly – 05:30 on the A13 is like the peak of rush hours in other areas of the UK – including Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham etc… Just one accident on one of the main arterial routes, the traffic police close the road and the whole of South and West Essex is gridlocked for hours!!
Rail network is hideously overpriced and ridiculously overcrowded…All the money from the rail user clearly doesn’t go into investing in new rolling stock!
Southend airport? Aren’t these people jumping the gun a little? Has an expansion of this airport been agreed?
As it says above this is a development “Concept” – nothing more than blue sky thinking – and way way way off the mark…back to the drawing board folks!
If they are highlighting Southend Airport as part of the necessary infrastructure required before developing, they obviously assume all the people buying these houses are going to commute by plane!
Our main arterial routes are pretty much at capacity even at weekends, and the slightest incident gridlocks the entire region. I’ve lost count of the number of times the A127 has been closed over the past few weeks. When this happens I find the only decent route home is via Ramsden, Downham and Rettendon, as the A13, 129 and A130 all take the brunt of the diverted traffic and slow to a crawl. We desperately need road capacity, but instead we get a 50mph limit and speed cameras. So much for progress!
And as for medical provision, Southend hospital is pretty packed whenever I’ve been there. When my daughter broke her arm last week, my wife couldn’t get a parking space anywhere near the hospital, and ended up parking some distance away and walking. Good job it wasn’t a broken leg we were dealing with!
Still, the developers will probably offer to pay for a much needed pedestrian crossing somewhere, and we’ll all be told that we’re getting a great deal and permission will be granted.
Just spent some time on EERA website as I wanted to know which Counties fall under the heading ‘East of England.
I found lots of information including personal contact info. on some of the top people involved.
Readers of Online Focus may be interested (see below)
It is interesting that Lib Dem. Cllr. Alan Crystall is on the list (Southend telepone number)
The East of England Regional Assembly…
The East of England Regional Assembly is independent of Government and represents the regional interests of people living and working in the East of England (comprising Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, Peterborough, Luton, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock). It exists to promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of the region.
Notes to editors
For further information or to arrange an interview with an EERA spokesperson, please contact:
Stephen Hinchley, EERA
tel: 01284 729430 mob: 07710 312237 email: stephen.hinchley@eera.gov.uk
Helen Sharkey, Project PR
tel: 01473 326405 mob: 07521 318127 email: helen.sharkey@projectpr.bizFor more information on EERA, see the website at http://www.eera.gov.uk
East of England Regional Planning Panel Group Leaders
Cllr Derrick Ashley (Chairman of RPP), Conservative, 01992 556571
Cllr Alan Crystall (Panel Group Leader), Liberal Democrat, 01702 474047
Cllr Roy Davis (Panel Group Leader), Labour, 01582 730939
Corrine Meakins (Panel Group Leader), Community Stakeholder, 07960 189994
To try and pick up on a number of points raised by these postings:
1. The Colonadde web-site is now indicating that they want to put 20,000(!) homes on the Rochford/Southend site.
2. I fear you may be being too optimistic about govt policy. EERA/ECC are looking to allocate extra housing for the period to 2031. This is likely to come out for consultation next May after the county elections.
3. IF EERA/ECC allocate more houses, as seems likely, it will be difficult to stop the Colonadde proposal.
4. The current Core Strategy proposal (3500 homes) scatters housing alround the district meaning it will not be economically possible to improve the general infrastructure.
5. The Core Strategy provides no scope for future housing allocations, which are virtually guaranteed to come. Where will extra houses go?
6. Recent ECC stats show that average daily volumes on the B1013 are up 6% to 16,000; close to its theoretical capacity. How will people move across the district, especially given that No 7 and No 8 buses are being reduced to just 1 an hour in February?
The Core Strategy is inappropriate and unsustainable. It is vital that as many people as possible submit their views on all this to planning.enquiries@rochford.gov.uk by 17 December. ADMIN: IT’S BETTER TO MAKE COMMENTS VIA REGISTERING ON http://rochford.jdi-consult.net/ldf/
Brian, first of all, thanks for all your comments. Would you like to expand on your last comment that ‘The Core Strategy is inappropriate and unsustainable.’ ?
TWR – you are so right about the infrastructure!
Chris,
The proposed Core Strategy (CS) provides for about a dozen or so sites scattered around the District, each comprising of a few hundred houses. This means it is economically impossible to provide an appropriate infrastructure across the District, as TWR rightly calls for.
To take an example, the CS proposes 1170 houses near Brays Lane in East Rochford and 330 in Hawkwell. The extra traffic from these 1500 houses will use the already over-crowded Ashingdon Road, the B1013 and Rectory Lane, with its narrow, traffic light controlled, railway bridge and chaotic junction with the B1013. What chance of these 3 roads being improved to take this extra traffic? None?
Neither does the plan provide any protection for the additional housing we know that EERA/ECC are already planning to impose on us. Where will those houses go?
I therefore contend that the CS is short sighted, unworkable and unsustainable. Does anyone disagree?
Meeting tomorrow on Core Strategy
There will be a presentation on the Core Strategy tomorrow (6 Nov) at 7.30 at Rochford Primary and Nursery School, Ashingdon road, Rochford. This will be particularly vital for Rochford residents who face 1170 houses on their western side and the prospect of up to 20,000 on the eartern side. But it will be one of limited opportunities to hear details, ask questions and express views,so hopefully many people as possible will attend.
Copies of the plan are now available from RDC or libraries.