This is a very good example of the sort of anti-housing hysteria that is gripping the south east of England and that has impacted the planning as a whole nationally. Eric Pickles started the rot by pandering to this NIMBYism when he became the minister, by his botched scrapping of regional plans. This meant housing numbers were now determined and set locally, making local police and the supposed villains of the piece. If those same politicians had done their jobs properly in the first place, they would have made sure that their electorate better understood the evidence base upon which the housing numbers were based and that this hadn’t changed just because regional plans had been scrapped.
The island referred to in this report, is a perfect example of what is happening in many affluent residential locations across the south east and beyond.
COLCHESTER Council is “not listening” to the strong opposition to building 350 homes on Mersea Island, campaigners say.
About 130 protestors from the island’s STOP 350 group made their voices heard at a Colchester Local Plan committee meeting last night.
The meeting was the first since the total number of objections to, and comments in support of, the borough’s new draft local plan were published.
In total the figures show 1,884 objections were lodged, compared to 286 supportive representations and 825 general comments.
John Akker MBE, chairman of the STOP 350 group, said: “The impression I want to leave you with is, the borough is not listening.
“The proposals are flawed and fly in the face of everything.
“The big issue is that Mersea is already full.”
Speaking directly to the committee, he added: “Why can’t you see the proposals will damage the tourist industry and employment?”
“The…
View original post 239 more words
Roger Gambba-Jones 