Hockley Area Action Plan (the HAAP)

We are formally objecting to the Hockley Area Action Plan (the HAAP) which is published at the link below.

http://www.rochford.gov.uk/planning/policy/local_development_framework/hockley_area_action_plan/hockley-area-action-plan-haap

As District Councillors we believe that this plan will have adverse effects on the residents of our Ward, Hawkwell West Ward which adjoins The Hockley Village centre.

UPDATE – HERE IS A SYNOPSIS OF WHAT Councillor John Mason told the Planning Inspector at THE HEARING ON 17 SEPTEMBER 2013

Wishing you and Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012

Wishing you and Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2012

Click above for Video Card

Happy Christmas From The Rochford Independent

Another View – What Could Really Happen to Our Green Belt?

Photo by bangli 1

The Liberal Democrat Group in Rochford has published an interesting article called “What Could Really Happen In Our Green Belt” at http://onlinefocus.org/?p=11420  “OnlineFOCUS – News and Stuff For Rochford District”.

OnlineFOCUS said that the latest new housing allocation document says these are only minimum figures, the Council may allow more housing if required to meet our Five Year Housing Supply.  The five year supply is a rolling figure (5 X 250 houses per year) that is assessed and the result published annually each December.  OnlineFOCUS concluded that if houses don’t get built in one Preferred Location they may get built in another!

The David Wilson Homes Development in Hawkwell

By Councillor Christine Mason

For the last few years Hawkwell West has had the uncertainty created by the David Wilson Homes application to build a new estate in our midst, on land confusingly called South Hawkwell (and not Hawkwell West as it should be) by Rochford District Council. For those residents who attended last week’s Development Committee (and for those that were unable to do so) on 27 September, there were heated exchanges and contradictions that centred around the Public Open Space therefore I thought we should explain the importance of this relatively small but vital part of the development.

Why was the Council overruled on housing development in Hawkwell?

Both John and Christine Mason were present and gave evidence to the Appeal Hearing and will now take a closer look at how the Inspector made his decision.

The Inspector explains why the preferred strategy of Hawkwell Parish Council could not have been included in the Core Strategy because it would not have complied with new Government Policy.

The new Government National Planning Framework (NPPF), which only came in late last year, certainly featured in the Inspector’s decision made in favour of the developer but there would also appear to have been lapses in the planning policies of Rochford District Council where Councillor Hudson is the Cabinet Member for Planning and Transportation.

Proud of Team GB – Superb – Well Done

3	Great Britain & N. Ireland	29	17	19	65

Flooding

It never fails to astonish us long it can take to resolve issues.

When John was first elected to Rochford District Council 12 years ago one of the first problems he encountered was the distressing flooding in Woodside Chase, Elmwood Avenue and Hawkwell Chase and he saw how much suffering was caused to the residents.  I believe the cause of the flood was a sudden heavy rainfall and a blocked culvert.  Whilst the culvert itself was, and is the responsibility of Anglian Water Authority the adjoining land where the water and debris enter the culvert is unregistered and no owner could be traced.  At the earlier request of the residents Rochford District Council installed a specially designed Grille to prevent the debris entering the culver pipe which runs under the road.  As far as John was aware this had resolved the issue as in the intervening years no complaints were received by him as Ward Councillor since the grille was installed.

Hawkwell Fire Station – Update from Councillor Christine Mason

Item R1 – 12/00014/FUL – Fire Station, Main Road, Hawkwell

 

Proposal – Proposed road traffic collision training compound, fenced and gated to enclose a de-brief shelter, road barrier, lamp post (non-illuminated) and ditch and a proposed working at heights training tower to include 6.5m tower with screen.

 

Resolved

 

That the application be approved, subject to the following conditions:-

 

1 SC4B – Time Limits Full – Standard

 

2 No development shall commence before details of the privacy screening to be used in its construction have been submitted to and approved in writing by the Local Planning Authority. Such screening as may be agreed in writing by the Local Planning Authority shall be erected prior to the first usage of the training facilities and shall be retained as approved thereafter.

 

3 The use of the working at heights training tower and use of the road traffic collision training compound, including the use of power and cutting tools within this area, shall be restricted to between 0900 hours to 1800 hours Monday to Friday, with no working on Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holidays and the use of these be limited to no more than three hours per day and on no more than three days a week.

 

4 No flashing lights or sirens shall be used at the site in connection with either the road traffic collision training compound or working at heights training tower at any time. (HPT) 

Street Lights in Hawkwell & Hockley to be Switched Off Midnight to 5am soon

Update from Cllr Derrick Louis TD MBA MCILT MAPM
Cabinet Member for Highways and Transportation, Essex County Council

“Just writing to keep you up to date on the progress of the Part Night Lighting scheme. I’m pleased to confirm that the telecells for the Central Management System (CMS) will start to be installed tomorrow. The contractor will start work in Ashingdon and then move on to Hawkwell and Hockley.”

Will this happen universally across Rochford District? 

District Councillor Keith Hudson advises “Generally most lights will be switched in accordance with the new regime but the County Highways Department do the have the ability to exclude specific luminaires for security or safety purposes, as they see fit.” 

NEW Local Highways Panel

The Local Highways Panel is a forum for county and district Members to jointly consider and prioritise elements of highways spend in the district.

For 2012/13, a total of £427,808 has been allocated to Rochford by County Highways covering the following capital budget lines:

traffic management improvements;

tackling congestion;

safer roads (including casualty reduction);

public rights of way schemes;

cycling schemes;

passenger transport improvements; and

minor highway improvement schemes.

Update on the Christmas Tree Farm/Rectory Road/Thorpe Road Hawkwell Development

You might have missed the article because it was filed under Southend and Hawkwell was missed from the headline.  So we are going to repeat most of it here so that you can be informed.

Technical Issues

 Technical problems caused by a string of hacking damage have caused the long  interregnum in the publication of new articles.

I have spent several days talking to my host support and they are going to undertake a series of content and domain migrations to a new server as well as assist me with configuration changes to the WordPress Application software.

Hopefully we will be back shortly with the same site with the database functioning again.