Political Viewpoint

By Coun Danielle Belton, Chairman of Rayleigh Town Council and Deputy Leader of the Conservative Group on Rochford District Council.

FIRSTLY, a Happy New Year! 2024 is now well under way and locally it will be a very important year for us all.

I am delighted to have a chance to report back on local politics and thought this month I would focus on development, which is one of the number one topics when I am out meeting residents on their doorsteps.

Rochford District Council is currently in the midst of preparing the new Local Plan, which will shape the future of our area, including housing and infrastructure needs, across the district for the next thirty years.

In layman’s terms, if a site is included within the plan it is likely developers will be able to build on it – subject to normal planning permissions being sought. Without a plan, developers get free reign over our lovely district. By contrast, if a site is not included, it would be more difficult for anyone to build there.

The initial part of shaping the plan, was to set the criteria, e.g. looking at transport links, proximity to schools, medical services, employment provision etc, and to then ask landowners across the district to offer suitable sites, which could be considered for development, whether this be for industrial use or to meet residential housing needs. That part of the process was completed back in 2022.

The next phase, which we believe is now overdue and unlikely to come forward before the May election, is to publish a list of preferred sites, so that members of the public can be engaged through a consultation and scrutiny process, before final submission in order for the completed plan to be independently reviewed, agreed and then adopted.

As Councillors on the District Council we have been asking if the plan is being intentionally delayed until after the elections because of what’s in it? Why cant we see the administrations preferred options now?

Conservative policy is to give priority to housing development on existing Brownfield sites in preference to Green Belt.

An example of this type of development was the old EON site on London Road, which became Claremont Cresent. This approach not only protects the environment, but also with less disruption for residents and better infrastructure for the district as a whole. This supports our view that Green Belt, which forms the major part of land in the Rochford District, continues to be protected for years to come.

The current joint administration, which is made up of five different groups, should now be deciding where in the District they want future development to go.

With so many views, at this point, we are none the wiser as to what part or parts of Rochford District will be effected. Conservatives locally will strongly resist any attempt to “dump” all the housing needs in any one part of the district, as has been previously suggested.

I was over the moon to hear that central government has now changed it’s policy to make housing targets advisory, rather than mandatory, this means that rather than being told how many homes we need to build, we can make decisions based on real numbers, of real local people. This news was welcomed by all of the local Conservatives.

There are a lot of myths regarding social housing and I thought it might be prudent to clear some of these up. Any development with more than 15 homes should provide for 35% affordable housing, as required by the council’s current local plan policy. Of this 35%, the tenure breakdown is usually 80% for affordable rent and 20% for affordable home ownership.

This is in line with local needs according to evidence. The applicant/developer will then contact local Housing Associations to gauge whether there is interest in purchasing the affordable housing units if they don’t already have a preferred housing association partner.

An important fact – Our council receives 100% of the nominations, meaning these homes can only be offered to local people who are on the Housing Register. Confusion and/or speculation sometimes arises because any Local Authority can purchase properties anywhere in the country, on the open market, this means that should a London Council want to purchase properties here, they would have to do so at market value from whoever is selling the property. These would not affect our 35% figure, but also it’s not something we have any control over, in the same way we wouldn’t have a say if you were selling your home.

Ultimately 2024 will determine the future of Rochford District and I for one, hope decisions are made with the best interests of our residents at heart and not for political point scoring in the run up to elections. For more information you can visit: rochford.oc2.uk.

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