At a Glance
- Residents met to discuss concerns over green belt development.
- Southend’s Local Plan deadline is fast approaching.
- Infrastructure, roads, GPs, schools, sewerage and flooding are key concerns.
- The article calls for brownfield regeneration before green belt development.
Residents Meet to Defend our Green Belt
Defending our area from overdevelopment grows more urgent by the day as Southend City Council’s deadline to finalise a Local Plan by the end of the year is fast approaching. Their intention to use our green belt to meet their arbitrary housing targets becomes ever clearer.
At the last meeting of the Council, I asked the Cabinet Member for Planning & Housing, Cllr Anne Jones, to commit to protecting our green belt by confirming that it would not form part of the Local Plan. Disappointingly, residents were given no reassurance that the land would remain undeveloped. This suggests the Council fully intends to progress their plans of releasing the land for mass development.
The consequences of this would be severe. Our roads are already congested. It takes long enough to get across Southend as it is. We have seen how quickly traffic builds when disruption hits, like the Queensway underpass works. GPs are overstretched. Schools are nearing capacity. Sewerage is a constant concern. And flooding remains a serious, unresolved problem. Residents know our infrastructure just cannot cope. That’s why our community recognises the proposed development as the biggest threat facing our area, and why I am fighting hard to stop it.
Community Unites Against Development
I was proud to help organise a public meeting on this issue at the end of March with Conservative colleagues. We brought more than 130 residents together at Thorpe Hall School, alongside local representatives and campaigners, to hear from Gareth Bacon MP, Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning. I am grateful that he has lent his support to our campaign here against mass housebuilding on our green belt.
I showed Gareth Bacon the land intended for development, and told him how we, as residents, are completely opposed to building here.
Before the public meeting, the Shadow Minister also held briefings with our brilliant resident associations and councillors. Gareth is the key person holding the Government to account in Parliament on this issue, and so local voices are being heard at the highest levels – whilst our own Member of Parliament remains silent on the matter.
In the public meeting, residents heard about the scale of development. The numbers would be enormous and are being driven by Government housing targets. Around 24,000 homes for Southend and a further 14,000 for Rochford – nearly all of which would be built on green belt. This quantity risks Southend becoming the overflow of London.
Clear Message from Residents
The message from the meeting was clear: Stop overdevelopment. Defend our green belt. Protect the character of our area. As residents, we cannot allow such significant decisions to be made without the promise of essential infrastructure.
Talking to residents on their doorsteps, they’ve been emphatic – they do not want thousands of houses forced onto this land. They are deeply concerned about what overdevelopment would mean for Thorpe Bay, Southchurch, Shoebury, and the rest of Southend.
And residents should be concerned. This threat is very real. Development will be allowed to happen if local people do nothing.
Homes Yes, Overdevelopment No
Nobody is saying that Southend should not have homes for local people. Like me, for those of us who grew up here, we should have the option to build our lives locally. But the concern is the quantity, location, and infrastructure.
Good planning must begin with developing brownfield sites first, proper regeneration of already urban areas, and committing to provide infrastructure that copes with future demands. Sacrificing open countryside for the sake of developers’ profit margins is wrong. Residents must be put first. And if these reasonable commitments make green belt projects unviable, then there are plenty of opportunities for developers to go elsewhere.
Regeneration Must Come First
I care about Southend, but I know that we need more ambition and a positive vision for the future. Our area needs proper regeneration. It needs drastic improvement to the city centre, where shops are closing and where crime and antisocial behaviour are becoming noticeably worse.
But we do not achieve this by allowing developers to concrete over the green belt.
This issue shapes the future of our area for generations. Some think the choice is between caring about housing or protecting the green belt. The real choice is between sensible development that conserves our community, or irreversible overdevelopment.
On Thursday 7th May, residents will choose who represents them on our Council. Let’s choose those who care about our community. Those who will listen to residents, take action on local issues and resist reckless green belt development, because once this land is gone, it’s gone for good.
Promoted by Alex Bright on behalf of Martin Bright, both of Southend East and Rochford Conservative Association, PO Box 6225, Southend-on-Sea, SS1 9GP.
by Martin Bright
Conservative Candidate
for Southchurch Ward &
Thorpe Hall Avenue
Resident