The Rochford Housing Plan – The figures RDC doesn’t want us to see
November 11, 2008 by Editor
This article is an “exclusive” that Brian Guyett, Chairman of The Hockley Residents’ Association asked us to publish.
The table below summarises the proposals in RDC’s Core Strategy and also shows residents’ current understanding of the ‘true’ locations.
RDC does not seem to want us to see these figures. They are not summarised in the Core Strategy and we all know by now that some of the descriptions are misleading, to say the least. Neither are they mentioned in the special edition of Rochford Matters.
If this is a ‘good,’ sustainable plan, why is the Council desperately trying to supress this key data? Could it be because they know that the plan is not viable spread across 12 sites, plus the airport?
However, we do need to remember that this allocation has been imposed on the Council and us. We have to find somewhere to put these homes. If we don’t find a solution, it will be imposed on us.
Where can/should we put these extra homes, which equate to a 10% increase on the existing housing stock in the District? We must find an answer!
| Location |
RDC Core Strategy |
Revised ‘True’ Location |
|||
|
No. of units by 2015 |
No. units 2015- 2021 |
Post 2021 |
Total |
||
| West Hockley |
50 |
|
|
50 |
50 |
| Hawkwell West |
100 |
100 |
130 |
330 |
330 |
| East & SE Ashingdon |
240 |
0 |
380 |
620 |
Nil |
| South Canewdon |
60 |
0 |
90 |
150 |
150 |
| West Rochford |
300 |
100 |
150 |
550 |
1,170 |
| West & SouthWest Great Wakering |
150 |
200 |
160 |
510 |
510 |
| South West Hullbridge |
0 |
450 |
90 |
540 |
240 |
| North of London Rd & SW Rayleigh |
550 |
200 |
|
750 |
|
| Rawreth |
|
|
|
Nil |
1,050 |
| Total |
1450 |
1050 |
1000 |
3500 |
3500 |
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The following option has not been examined at all seriously in the Rochford Core Strategy, even if it is to be rejected by the Council.
I am referring to the option put forward by Seaside/Iceni for the East of the District which has been known to the Council for the last few years.
In September 2007 the Council asked Members to notify what options they would like to see considered in the Rochford Core Strategy. I wrote the following in a formal letter in Shaun Scrutton, Head of Planning and Transportation.
“I understand that Go-East is broadly supportive of a new outer relief road for Southend, though it stresses this would need to be built in partnership with Essex County Council and Rochford District Council and might be privately funded.
On the basis that Go-East has already signified that such option should be included in the next Option Appraisal for the LDF, I formally request that Rochford District Council considers this infrastructural change, which has publicly stated Government support, in the way that it might affect Rochford District and the spatial housing planning allocation in relation to such infrastructural development and in particular that the whole requirement of circa 3,300 houses can be placed in the Eastern part of Rochford District in the LDF Core Strategy.”
This request does not imply in any way that I am supportive of such option. I cannot make further comment because it has been ignored in the Core Strategy and I have no data to consider. But I believe that such an Option cannot continue to be excluded from the LDF Core Strategy Consultation. Without it the Rochford Core Strategy is fatally flawed.
The Council has ignored this Strategic Option and inexplicably so because in the latest documentation this clearly refers to land in the Rochford District AND development of 5,000 houses up to 2021 which is well within the 2025 target referred to in the Rochford Core Strategy. Here is an extract which says this;
“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.
Rochford District Council has ignored the only potential strategic development in the District where it could work in partnership with Southend Borough Council and The Thames Gateway in consideration of the overall development of this Sub Region rather than just Rochford as some sort of exclusive patch.