Westminster Report

BY the Rt Hon Mark Francois MP for Rayleigh and Wickford.
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government is currently seeking to build 15,000 new dwellings within the Rochford District, by 2043, as part of their aim to construct 1.5 million homes, within this Parliament.
This, coupled with the Housing Secretary, Steve Reed MP’s mantra of ‘build baby build’ (regardless of the reality of local circumstances) threatens our precious Green Belt and Labour quite literally jamming up our roads and concreting over our green spaces.
With local elections coming up on 7th May, I believe we should all send the Government a clear message, expressing that we do not want this to happen, before its too late.
Let me be clear, I am not opposed to all housebuilding, in principle. I recognise that we do need some new homes as young people cannot be expected to live with their parents forever. However, what I cannot support is the sheer extent of the large-scale developments that have been proposed, right across the Rochford District.
Larger developments, such as those proposed at Dollyman’s Farm (Rawreth); Hambro Hill and Great Wheatleys (Rayleigh); Mount Bovers Lane (Hockley) and Brays Lane (Ashingdon), will, if approved, change the character of the local area and will have a knock-on effect on residents who currently live in those communities.
I believe that such proposals represent overdevelopment and surpass what our local area can reasonably sustain. As a result, our towns and villages are at risk of being overwhelmed, with unacceptable pressures being placed upon our already struggling infrastructure.
As outlined in my recent response to Rochford District Council’s consultation on their Regulation 18 new Local Plan (which you can read on my Facebook page), I have grave concerns about the A127 and A13’s abilities to support the increase in traffic, which will inevitably arise due to the growth in population that will follow the construction of thousands of new homes.
Both of these roads are effectively ‘maxed out’ already, operating at over 98% capacity during the morning and evening peaks.
These are not the only two roads in the area that are struggling with the current number of vehicles using them on a daily basis, with the A12/A130, A1245, A129 and B1013, all currently struggling to accommodate contemporary traffic numbers.
The latter, which runs from Rayleigh, through Hockley and down into Hawkwell, is already one of the busiest B roads in the entire country. This, coupled with the seemingly endless roadworks that have blighted the village – owing to gas replacement works, broadband installation and other emergency works – have exacerbated the situation and resulted in residents now often referring to their village as ‘Blockley’.
Overall, the Department for Transport’s own official figures reveal that in 2024, Essex had the highest volume of vehicle traffic of any county in the UK, at 9.708 billion vehicle miles (source: DFT.gov.uk). Anyone who actually lives here knows instinctively that our road network is already at or very near maximum capacity and simply cannot cope with further, massive house building on the proposed scale, lest our roads begin to grind to a halt, with all the adverse effects that would have both on our quality of life and our wider environment.
The vast increase in proposed housing numbers, which is in the thousands, will also put a greater strain on our education settings and health facilities, in terms of both primary care (GP practices) and hospital/acute services. On this point, it should be noted that Southend Hospital is already struggling and the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which it falls within, is under immense pressure at present. Indeed, it is one of five Trusts across the country which have recently been placed in “intensive special measures” by the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting MP, because of the challenges it faces – including an increasingly aging population.
Whilst the hospital, supported by local MPs, myself included, did acquire £8m to redevelop their A&E department, these works are still yet to be fully completed and will only go some way to tackling current pressures – but not necessarily the increased demand that would come from a surge in our local population, as Labour propose.
The situation in terms of water and sewage is not very encouraging either and there are serious concerns about whether either front would be able to accommodate an increase in pressure brought about by a growing population, without massive additional investment (in the form of Section106 contributions).
I should stress again that I am not opposed to all construction and there is such a thing as ‘good development’, however, from experience, that is something that must be done with people and not to them.
I fear that many of the currently proposed developments fall into the latter category and merely peddle the Government’s top-down approach to housebuilding targets. Such proposals would eat into our countryside, erode the distinction between our towns and villages and set a dangerous precedent for further development, not least because many housebuilders often subsequently squeeze further houses onto new sites, via a process known as “intensification”.
Decisions about where and how we build should reflect the capacity and character of our communities – not simply appease the demands of national quotas – and Rochford should not bear a disproportionate share of the burden at the expense of our precious Green Belt.
If this issue is one that resonates with you, then please do bear that in mind when you go to vote in the forthcoming Local Elections on 7th May. Your Conservative candidates, who live in South Essex, not in Whitehall, understand the pressures our infrastructure is already under and, like me, want to protect our District from being overwhelmed, on Labour’s whim.
In summary, I have consistently argued, including in Parliament, that no major housing developments should be permitted without prior investment in supporting infrastructure. Without following an infrastructure-first approach, we risk creating developments that are unsustainable, place additional burdens on existing communities and ultimately reduce the overall quality of life for residents, both existing and new.
Green Belt is green for a reason and, unfortunately, once it is gone, it is gone indefinitely – so please join me and my Conservative colleagues in trying to stop Labour from covering us in concrete!
Read more
Visit: https://leigh-on-sea.news
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leighonsea.news
X : @leighonsea_news
Contact us: https://leigh-on-sea.news/contact-us
Email: [email protected]