onlineFOCUS – News and Stuff For Rochford District since 2003

From the A Green Read blog:

A Public Meeting is being held on Thursday 3rd January at the Hullbridge Community Centre, in Pooles Lane.  The meeting is to start at 7.30pm.This meeting is for residents to discuss and decide what they can say to the consultation, being held by the District Council, about the 500 houses planned for Hullbridge.  The Consultation has already started and will finish at 5.00pm on 25 January 2012.It is important that people respond to this consultation based on whether it is “sound” or “legal”  The meeting will provide information on these points and assist with questions on the completing the consultation itself.The consultation page at Rochford District Council can be found here.Please come to this meeting and make as many people as possible aware of it.  Cllrs Michael & Diane Hoy will be at the meeting to answer questions.

This meeting is very relevant for Rawreth as well – as about half of the “Hullbridge” housing will actually be in Rawreth …

December 28th, 2012 | Category: Consultations, Future Housing, Hullbridge, Rawreth, Rawreth Green Belt | Comments (1)

The District Council have an online survey on their car parks – you can find it on this page.

They also have a questionnaire for people seeking affordable housing on the same page.

[we have amended this page to show usable links]

July 3rd, 2012 | Category: Consultations, Highways & Parking, Housing | Comments (6)

Our local NHS Foundation trust is keen for the public to become official members of the trust.

Everyone who lives in Essex is eligible to be a member. Becoming a member is free and brings benefits such as:

* Having a say in the future development of the hospital
* Hearing things first and be consulted
* Comparng hospital practice & performance with other Trusts
* Voting in the election of the Board of Governors
* Receiving the governors’ newsletter the FuTure
* Meeting clinical & administrative staff at events held throughout the county

You can join online here

We’d be interested to know if any onlinefocus readers are already members and how worthwhile they find it.

Secondly :

Essex, Southend and Thurrock Dementia Strategy is currently being consulted on. You can view the consultation at
www.engageessex.org.uk

The aim is to improve the quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers and to access high quality diagnosis, treatment, support and advice throughout Essex, Southend and Thurrock.

The draft strategy seeks comments on the following questions:

* Is there anything that has been missed which would help us to deliver the Essex Southend and Thurrock Dementia Strategy?
* Does this Strategy fully address issues of equality and diversity and the needs of particular groups?
* What are your priorities for implementation? What can and should be done first?

The purpose of the draft Essex, Southend and Thurrock Dementia Strategy is to provide an overarching statement of how the objectives of the National Dementia Strategy can be collectively met across Essex whilst allowing the flexibility required to respond to ‘local need’.

Thanks to RDC Cabinet member Councillor Jo McPherson for pointing this out to us.

July 17th, 2011 | Category: Consultations, Health and Care | Leave a comment

There’s still time to comment on the council’s latest consultation on the core strategy.

You can find all the stuff on the consultation here

In particular you can download the document that we are being consulted on here (299k)

The closing date for replying is 5:00 pm on 11th July 2011. So you still have time to comment – and you can see some of the responses so far here

This was discussed last night at Rawreth Parish Council . Although they naturally concentrated on the west of the district, they did think about aspects that affect the whole district – and they praised District Councillor John Mason for his efforts. They were also concerned that last years consultation seems to have been completely ignored and shelved.

Putting it simply, the District Council are proposing building on ‘land north of London Road’ , the Parish Council prefer a smaller site in the centre of Rawreth. And the Parish Council felt that the District’s consultation document was unfairly weighted in favour of the “North of London Road” site. Also they feel that the risk of flooding hasn’t been addressed properly.

We can certainly see why the Parish Coucnil feel like this.

For example the document says one of the good things about their proposed site is that:

The quantum of development that can be delivered in this location provides sufficient economies of scale to fund/develop
facilities required by the community, including a primary school, public open space and other community facilities.

- but actually there’s got quite a lot of open space already in this area. And even if 770 houses were built here, that wouldn’t require a new primary school – especially as St Nicholas School in Priory Chase was especially designed to have the capability to expand.

Also the document says about their site:

Some areas within this location are within flood zone 3, however it is likely that development can be accommodated outside of
the flood prone area.

It’s only ‘likely‘ that development will be out of the flood zone?! Are the district council implying that it would be OK for some of the housing to be built in the flood zone?

Meanwhile the document seems to miss out a lot of the good things about the Rawreth site:

July 7th, 2011 | Category: Consultations, District Core Strategy, Future Housing, Rawreth Green Belt, Rayleigh | Comments (1)

This is IMPORTANT!

The District Council is carrying out a new consultation on its core strategy for development. They’ve sent out a letter. We show the full letter below, though if you aren’t an expert on this stuff, you might find it hard to grasp the full meaning.

This is after a recent High Court case involving Forest Heath Sistrict Council in Suffolk. The District Council now has to do more than simply have a set of proposals. It has to show that it’s properly looked at all the alternatives as well. So it’s produced a document called the Sustainability Appraisal Addendum (“SA Addendum”). This tries to show its looked at the alternatives. You can download it downloaded here. (299k)

Comments may be submitted via email to planning.policy@rochford.gov.uk or in writing to: Planning Policy, Rochford District Council, Council Offices, South Street, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1BW. Please note that comments can only be made in respect of this “SA Addendum”. The consultation period will last until 5:00 pm on 11th July 2011.

There doesn’t seem to be a way of submitting comments online, so that other people can see them. Though if people want to copy their responses here as a comment, please feel free.

We are still studying the document ourselves and will probably write some more on onlinefocus later.

Sustainability Appraisal of Core Strategy Submission Document
Date: 13 June 2011
Dear Sir/Madam
I am writing to advise you that we are now seeking views on the Sustainability Appraisal Addendum of the Core Strategy Submission Document.
The Council submitted the Rochford District Core Strategy to the Secretary of State in January 2010. Since that time the document has been under examination by the Planning Inspectorate to determine whether it is sound and legally compliant. Part of the evidence base for the Core Strategy includes the Sustainability Appraisal, which considers the social, economic and environmental effects of a plan.
.
During the course of the examination, the change in government and subsequent changes in national policy have resulted in delays into the determination of the Core Strategy’s soundness.
In light of the recent High Court Ruling Save Historic Newmarket v. Forest Heath District Council, Rochford District Council requested that the issuing of a decision on the soundness of the Core Strategy be delayed to enable the Council undertake a review of the Core Strategy Sustainability Appraisal. The Planning Inspectorate accepted this request.
The Council has produced a review of the Core Strategy Sustainability Appraisal (Sustainability Appraisal Addendum) and is now consulting on this document. We now invite you to comment on this. The formal consultation period will run from 13 June 2011 until 5pm on 11 July 2011.
.
We recommend that also visit www.rochford.gov.uk to view the document and access background information.
We recognise that not everyone has access to the Internet and that it is important that no one is excluded from participating. If you wish to submit your views but are unable to do so online, please contact the Planning Policy team on .

Paper copies of the document can be viewed at the following locations:

• Rochford Council Offices, South Street, Rochford, SS4 1BW
• Rayleigh Civic Suite, 2 Hockley Road, Rayleigh, SS6 8EB
• Great Wakering Library, 16 High Street, Great Wakering, SS3 0EQ
• Hockley Library, Southend Road, Hockley, SS5 4PZ
• Hullbridge Library, Ferry Road, Hullbridge, SS5 6ET
• Rayleigh Library, 132/134 High Street, Rayleigh, SS6 7BX
• Rochford Library, Roche Close, Rochford SS4 1PS

Comments may be emailed to: planning.policy@rochford.gov.uk or alternatively, submitted to:
Planning Policy
Council Offices
South Street
Rochford
Essex
SS4 1BW

Comments submitted will be used to inform the final version of the Sustainability Appraisal Addendum, which will be submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

June 14th, 2011 | Category: Consultations, District Core Strategy, Future Housing | Comments (16)

We’ve just received a copy of the agenda for the extraordinary District Council Meeting on October 14th. You can download it here (80kb).

“Extraordinary” simply means it’s an ‘extra’ meeting in addition to the ordinary meetings – in this case to discuss revisions to the Rochford Core Strategy in the light of new government policy.

There’s a lot to read, please feel free to download it, and have a read and let us know your views.

We are still digesting it ourselves, but at the moment there seems to be a lot of tweaking to previous policies.

For example:
The proposed traveller policy is to have 14 pitches provided by 2021.
The proposed policy for housing “North of London Road ” is to have no building until 2021, 400 dwellings between 2021 and 2026, and 150 more after 2026 .
The proposed policy for SW Hullbridge is now to build nothing there before 2026, and then build 500 after that.

All this stuff wll go out for a further round of public consultation.

October 5th, 2010 | Category: Consultations, District Core Strategy | Comments (24)

It was a long meeting of Rawreth Parish Counciol tonight – and it’s a bit late in the evening to write much now.

But it’s worth mentioning that Hawkwell Councillor John Mason’s views on the consultation process were discussed and backed by Rawreth PC tonight – in particular the view he expressed in a comment in onlinefocus a few days ago:

“I do not think it right for the Council to give the public ready access to full consultation responses which are submitted on line but not those submitted on paper. This policy simply discriminates against those who either cannot or chose not to use the online system and prevents those people who are interested in seeing all of the consultation responses as submitted, in the raw state as it were, before the Council prepares a written analysis or summary of all representations. Complete transparency can only be delivered if all responses are published in full whether these are submitted on line or by alternative means. Unless the Council can be seen to be completely transparent in the process leading to analysis and summary then in my opinion soundness is compromised when it need not be if the Council changed its policy (from that which the Council outlined to me when I complained) and resourced accordingly to fully support the ethics of an SCI without compromise.”

September 1st, 2010 | Category: Consultations, Rawreth | Comments (2)

We know that many people find it difficult to respond to all the different consultations that the District Council carries out.

They aren’t always simple to respond to.

But now the council has achieved a new ‘record’ . It carried out an official consultation – on air quality around Rawreth Industrial Esate – and not had one proper response.

To quote the council report:

A public consultation exercise was undertaken between 17 February 2010
and 6 April 2010 in order to seek views about the creation of an AQMA. This
related to the target level for particulate matter, also known as PM10 being
exceeded in the area shaded red on the map attached at Appendix 1. The
consultation included a presentation to West Area Committee on 4 March
2010.
.
Although some general enquiries were answered, no specific consultation
responses were received.

What’s more alarming is that a lot of businesses on Rawreth Industrial Estate feel completely in the dark about the propoals to relocate it.

April 14th, 2010 | Category: Consultations, Noise and Pollution, Rawreth | Comments (2)

The Review Committee at Rochford District is chaired by Lib Dem June Lumley – although all the other members are Conservatives. It carries out in-depth overviews of particular issues, and at the moment one of them is the council’s car parks.

They have a questionnaire on the council’s website here

It’s quick and easy to fill in – please have a look and complete it.

And if you have any suggstions for improving the car parks – such as parent and child bays, free parking after 6 pm, machines that give change, ‘pay-on-exit’ machines or a cheap 30 or 40 minute time-band, you can write them in at the ned of the questionnaire.

November 6th, 2009 | Category: Consultations, Highways & Parking | Comments (3)

We had the following message from onlinefocus regular ST1 today:

Did anyone see this item in the Echo, relating to development ideas for Rayleigh town centre? Is this some kind of formal request for suggestions, and if so, how do they intend communicating it with the residents?

http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4708040.What_ideas_have_you_got_for_town_centre_/

The answer is yes, we saw it.

What’s happening is that, just like Hockley and Rochford, the District Council will be carrying out a consultation on how to improve Rayleigh Town Centre soon. We will be wriying more when it appears on the council website, possibly in a few days time.

We very much hope that our readers will respond to the consultation when it starts- the document is quite long but pretty thoughtful ,and is worth looking at.

The Town Centre study in Hockley has caused a great deal of strife – we hope Rayleigh’s one goes more smoothly because:

By the way, this study was at Chris Black’s suggestion – the Council originally planned to do studies for Hockley and Rochford only. But Chris didn’t think Rayleigh should be ignored for the next 10 years, there were government funds available to pay for the consultants, and Terry Cutmore the Conservative leader readily agreed.

And the article in the Echo refers to ideas from the Chamber of Trade – not the council consultants.

November 3rd, 2009 | Category: Consultations, Rayleigh | Comments (4)

From the District Council Website:

Core Strategy consultation period extended due to postal strike

The consultation period for the Core Strategy Submission Document was due to close for both electronic and paper representations on 2nd November 2009.

However, in response to the recent postal strikes and in recognition that some written representations may have been delayed in reaching the Council, the consultation deadline for written representation has been extended until 5pm on November 9th 2009. Please note that this extension applies only to written representations.

This is a sensible move by the council.

We understand that if you still have a written form to return, you can hand it in at the council offices or fax it back to the fax number shown.

November 3rd, 2009 | Category: Consultations, District Core Strategy | Leave a comment