Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois has responded to Rochford District Council’s consultation exercise on their new Local Plan, with a strong message that there should be no further major development in the area unless it is accompanied with associated infrastructure.
The Council’s new Local Plan, which would take forward development out to 2037, is being produced over the next few years and Mark is concerned that any future development must be accompanied by sufficient investment in infrastructure such as roads, schools, GP surgeries and other NHS facilities.
The Council will now spend some time analysing the numerous responses to its consultation before publishing further details of how it intends to proceed later in the year.
As part of all this, Mark received representations from a number of residents associations across the Rochford District Council area who would like to build a new garden village somewhere in the east of the district, which was one of the options in the Rochford District Council’s consultation.
Commenting on his response to the consultation exercise, Mark Francois said:
“I strongly believe that any further major development in this constituency should only take place if the associated infrastructure which is necessary to accommodate it is guaranteed. I have made this point very strongly in my response to the consultation which I have published on my Facebook page and which my constituents can read at:
www.facebook.com/MarkFrancoisRayleighandWickford/. With regards to the garden village idea, I am keeping an open mind about this but I think it might merit further examination.