REALLY, REALLY disappointing news I’m afraid
In December the government confirmed it was imposing a compulsory house building target on Colchester of 13,000 new homes
We also had the news on Tuesday night that Colchester’s planners were recommending that Middlewick be removed from the local plan’s list of house building sites – good news for nature, but it does mean that those 1,000 houses were going to have to be allocated elsewhere – which would almost certainly include the villages in the rural area south of Colchester.
So, I am afraid it is not such good news for Mersea, Abberton and Peldon – or a host of other rural areas. The worst hit rural areas are the other side of Colchester – 2,500 new houses allocated to Marks Tey, 2000 to the East of Colchester, 900 at Langham, 400 at Great Horksley – which is only a third the size of West Mersea.
It is also proposed to extend the urban area of Colchester a bit southwards at Berechurch with 800 new houses
While in the villages
Tiptree – which is only slightly bigger than West Mersea is allocated 650 new houses
West Mersea – 300 – at an extension of the Dawes Lane site
Layer de la Haye 60
Abberton 50
Peldon 25
Plus some lower numbers in the smaller villages such as Birch (15) and Fingringhoe (5) – though East Mersea thankfully escapes unscathed.
So, in total just over 1100 of the 13,000 houses are being proposed for villages south of Colchester – including 300 at West Mersea.
Let’s ne absolutely clear though this is the government imposing this on Colchester City Council – and telling us that if the council doesn’t implement it – the government will step in and make sure it happens anyway – AND will add an extra 20% to the house building targets
As I said yesterday – much of this was in Labour’s manifesto – including saying that the government will “Intervene” to impose housebuilding on communities that don’t want it
“We will ensure local communities continue to shape housebuilding in their area, but where necessary Labour will not be afraid to make full use of intervention powers to build the houses we need.” (p37)
In December the government confirmed it was imposing a compulsory house building target on Colchester of 13,000 new homes
We also had the news on Tuesday night that Colchester’s planners were recommending that Middlewick be removed from the local plan’s list of house building sites – good news for nature, but it does mean that those 1,000 houses were going to have to be allocated elsewhere – which would almost certainly include the villages in the rural area south of Colchester.
So, I am afraid it is not such good news for Mersea, Abberton and Peldon – or a host of other rural areas. The worst hit rural areas are the other side of Colchester – 2,500 new houses allocated to Marks Tey, 2000 to the East of Colchester, 900 at Langham, 400 at Great Horksley – which is only a third the size of West Mersea.
It is also proposed to extend the urban area of Colchester a bit southwards at Berechurch with 800 new houses
While in the villages
Tiptree – which is only slightly bigger than West Mersea is allocated 650 new houses
West Mersea – 300 – at an extension of the Dawes Lane site
Layer de la Haye 60
Abberton 50
Peldon 25
Plus some lower numbers in the smaller villages such as Birch (15) and Fingringhoe (5) – though East Mersea thankfully escapes unscathed.
So, in total just over 1100 of the 13,000 houses are being proposed for villages south of Colchester – including 300 at West Mersea.
Let’s ne absolutely clear though this is the government imposing this on Colchester City Council – and telling us that if the council doesn’t implement it – the government will step in and make sure it happens anyway – AND will add an extra 20% to the house building targets
As I said yesterday – much of this was in Labour’s manifesto – including saying that the government will “Intervene” to impose housebuilding on communities that don’t want it
“We will ensure local communities continue to shape housebuilding in their area, but where necessary Labour will not be afraid to make full use of intervention powers to build the houses we need.” (p37)
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