Car Wash Outrage In Hockley

Echo Report 21st December 2009 – Outrage as car wash is built without approval

Will a Parish Plan arrive too late for Hullbridge?

Time to show opposition to 450 planned houses, VILLAGERS need to make their voices heard about plans to build 450 new homes, a worried councillor has said.

Monday 28th December 2009 By John Geoghegan in the Echo 

Michael Hoy, a Green Party parish councillor in Hull-bridge, believes the village has been subdued in its opposition to the plans which form part of Rochford District Council’s core strategy for housing across the district.

He raised the issue at a recent parish council meeting, where he also called for a village plan to help shape any development and to make sure Hullbridge gets something in return from the developers.

Salting/Gritting in Rochford District

STOP PRESS, 7/01/2010.  The Government has announced that steps are being taken to control the national distribution of salt !!

This means that it will be necessary to reduce the schedule published here 0n 8/1 and 9/1 -go here  or here to find out more information 

With more snow and icy conditions on the way after the Festive Season our thoughts turned to the problems we experienced in Rochford District from 17/18 December right up to Christmas Day.

ECC Local area offices with knowledge of local requirements can also get involved in deployment. Roads are treated in their order of importance and usage.  So what is considered of importance in Rochford District?

Bins of Confusion

BIN collections across Rochford district were suspended until 28 /12.

The District Council announced the suspension on Christmas Eve because of “icy conditions proving very dangerous for both the personnel and vehicles”.

From Monday 28/12 contractors Sita  started collecting all the bins they were unable to collect last week, but compostable food waste will not be collected until this week.

London Gangs Target Hockley & Hawkwell

Echo 22nd December 2009

POLICE are to target gangs of youths who are coming into Hockley from London to cause trouble.

Youths have been travelling for miles to get to Clements Hall leisure centre and are causing havoc on Friday and Saturday nights.

This has blighted the lives of local residents due to the noise, vandalism to cars, and general antisocial behaviour. Groups of local youths have also been attacked and robbed.

Chief Insp Glen Westley, of Rochford police, said officers would look to tackle the situation before it got worse.

A Tale of Two Villages

Whilst the title of this article is an opportunistic pun on the Dickens’  Classic, Tale of Two Cities,  the story here in Rochford could be a tragedy of epic proportions for two villages in Rochford District if Government Planning Inspectors allow the two appeals in Stambridge and Hawkwell. 

Also at risk is the whole strategic housing and development plan (Core Strategy) which is being put forward by Rochford District Council to another Planning Inspector the same time.

So why are two big developers challenging RDC through planning applications rather than the Core Strategy Consultation and Public Examination?

 Both developers have something to lose.

Christmas Tree Farm, Hawkwell is Appealed to The Government

The Refusal of the David Wilson Homes Planning Application has already been Appealed to The Government.  

The Appeal for the 330 Dwellings at Rectory Rd / Main Rd / Clements Hall Way has been validated by the Planning Inspectorate and is in the initial processing stage. The Appeal reference no is APP/B1550/A/09/2118700/NWF.

Public Inquiry will be held on 27/04/2010 and could run for up to 4 days 

Link Here

Grounds for Appeal Here

There will be an Inquiry in public in 2/3 months time.

Yet More Electricity Outages

From Brian Guyett, Chairman of  The Hockley Residents’ Association

The Hockley/Rochford area (postcodes SS4 and SS5) has had 7/8, fairly brief, power cuts over the past three evenings.
 
EDF say the problem its likely to be a loose connection or a snow-laden tree brushing against overhead wires tripping a circuit breaker.  Their priority is people still cut-off since Thursday(!) and they have no one at present to walk the lines to check for a fault.
 
Anyone who spots a possible problem to report it to EDF (08007 838 838).

A bad year for EDF see also 3258 houses without power in November http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/local_news/rayleigh/4731428.3_258_homes_left_without_power_after_electricity_fault/

Greetings

‘Muntjac in Winter’, Hawkwell

A Christmas Card from The Rochford Independent

Enjoy the Festive & New Year Holidays !! 

This work is licenced under a
Creative Commons Licence.

Snow Causes Major Power Loss in Hawkwell

The forecast snow storm came as predicted at around 9 pm on Thursday, 17 December and in just a half an hour had brought down a high voltage cable in Rectory Road plunging 500 houses into darkness and bitter cold for 15 hours.

The Rochford Independent contacted the Emergency Planning Officer at RDC as soon as the Council opened because telephone lines to EDF had been jammed since the night before and no one knew what the situation was yet alone having news on BBC Essex, Essex FM/Heart.

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