A local plan option that would reduce the number of new homes proposed for Brightlingsea over the next 16 years has been backed by Brightlingsea Town Council.
Faced with four options in a new local plan being produced by Tendring District Council (TDC), town councillors hae put their weight behind the option that would require 30 to 100 additional homes being built in the town by 2041. The other three options would allow for up to 300 homes being built.
The local plan is being driven by the government’s requirement for an additional 7,000-8,000 more homes in the district by 2041 – on top of the 9,600 that were already proposed. Of the four options (which can be seen in our article here) town councillors have chosen option D as the one that would have the least effect on the town.
Option D proposes four new garden villages in the district– one at Horsley Cross, one at Frating/Great Bromley/Hare Green, one at Weeley, and one at Thorpe-le-Soken. It would see up to 2,000 new homes in Harwich and Dovercourt, but lower levels of growth in the district’s smaller towns.
Most visitors to a recent public consultation in the Parish Hall said that only having a single road in and out of Brightlingsea would be the main obstacle to further development. BTC says that the options suggested by TDC don’t place enough emphasis on the actual capacities of the town’s infrastructure – such as roads, gas, water and electricity supplies, as well as healthcare, school provision and policing.
BTC also says it would “vigorously oppose” any development on the conservation area around All Saints’ Church, Brightlingsea Hall and the surrounding fields.
A six-week public consultation closes on April 14 and a 77-question response can be found online at www.tendringdc.gov.uk/consultations. Many of the questions don’t apply to Brightlingsea, and not all need to be answered. Town councillors have suggested that questions 1, 3, 8, 10, 14, 20, 31, 32, 34, 44, 53, 72, and 77 are the most relevant.
Detailed information about the proposals can be found at https://tendringdc.oc2.uk/document/46. For those who can’t access the online version, a hard copy is available in libraries and at Clacton Town Hall. Answers can also be submitted to [email protected].
