Kelvedon Against Urban Sprawl - Press Release

Villagers Angered As Plans For 5,000 New Houses At Kelvedon Advance to Full Council Despite Unresolved Transport Risks

Residents of Kelvedon and Feering have expressed serious concern after Braintree District Council’s Local Plan Sub-committee voted to send its draft Local Plan to an extraordinary meeting of Full Council on Monday 2nd February, where councillors will be asked to agree that it proceeds to Regulation 18 public consultation. The decision follows a vote by Braintree District Council’s Local Plan Sub-Committee to accept the Council’s highways evidence and include Kings Dene as a strategic allocation in its draft Local Plan for 5,000 houses on Wednesday 21st January. Seven Conservative councillors, including Leader Cllr Graham Butland, voted in favour, alongside two Labour councillors and one Independent. The sole Green Party councillor voted against, citing unresolved transport risks.

Kelvedon Development

Kings Dene is proposed as a large new settlement intended to meet long-term housing needs across the district. The site lies to the north and west of Kelvedon, with Kelvedon High Street, Feering Hill and Station Road forming key access routes that are already under severe strain.

The neighbouring Monks Farm proposals for 600 houses to the southwest of Coggeshall Road, Kelvedon, have also been included in the draft Local Plan.

Braintree District Council’s planning officers argue that the scale of 5,600 houses could allow new infrastructure, schools and services to be delivered in a co-ordinated way.

However, residents and parish councils say these claims remain speculative and are being relied upon to justify a development that has not yet been demonstrated to be viable.

The Council’s own highways report acknowledges that only “high-level modelling” has been undertaken (in transport planning terms high-level means basic, broad-stroke, strategic and top-down but NOT detailed) and that detailed assessment of junction impacts, mitigation measures and infrastructure delivery has been deferred to later stages.

There is still no clear explanation of how significant additional traffic would be accommodated on the already heavily constrained A12, nor how increased congestion through Kelvedon High Street, Feering Hill and surrounding rural roads would be prevented.

Local communities argue that this places residents in an impossible position: being invited to comment during Regulation 18 public consultation on a strategic allocation without the evidence needed to judge whether it is deliverable, sustainable or safe.

Many fear that once Kings Dene is embedded in the draft plan and endorsed by Full Council, genuine alternatives will be marginalised, regardless of what future transport assessments may reveal.

There is growing frustration that the Regulation 18 consultation is being used to advance a preferred option while postponing fundamental questions about feasibility until the Regulation 19 public consultation later in the year, when the scope for change will be far more limited.

Local campaigners are calling on Full Council to pause the process on February 2nd, remove Kings Dene and Monks Farm from the draft plan, and require robust, transparent and site-specific highways evidence before any strategic allocation is promoted. They are also urging the Council to prioritise development options that do not place unacceptable pressure on existing villages.

If the Full Council votes to send out the draft Local Plan to consultation residents are strongly encouraged to engage with the forthcoming Regulation 18 consultation and make their objections known now, before decisions become increasingly difficult to reverse.

Thank you

Cllr Paul Thorogood

Green Party Councillor for Kelvedon and Feering

Essex county councillor for Braintree Eastern

Chair of KAUS

For inquiries call my mobile: 07973 385 275

Email: paul_thorogood@hotmail.com

Below are quotes from members of KAUS:

1. Paul Thorogood said: “The Local Plan Sub-committee has voted to accept a highways report that simply does not grapple with the reality on the ground. It still fails to properly assess how 5,000 homes at Kings Dene would impact Kelvedon and Feering’s already-congested roads, junctions and village centres. Decisions of this scale should be based on robust evidence, not optimistic assumptions waved through at committee.”

Dave Stringer, of Feering, said: “By voting to accept this highways report, the Sub-committee has asked residents of Kelvedon and Feering to take 5,000 new homes on trust, without a clear explanation of how our roads will cope. That is not sound planning, and it is not fair to the communities who will live with the consequences.”

3. Paul Thorogood said: “The Council has voted to push Kings Dene forward while the traffic questions remain unanswered. You cannot bolt 5,000 homes on to this location and then gloss over the impact on Kelvedon, Feering and surrounding villages - yet that is exactly what this highways report does.”

4. Paul Thorogood said: “A Local Plan must be built on proportionate and credible evidence. By accepting a highways report that relies on basic modelling and defers key impacts to later stages of the planning process, the sub-committee has advanced a plan that is on shaky ground.”

5. Paul Thorogood said” “Kelvedon and Feering are already struggling with congestion. Braintree District Council’s Local Plan Sub-committee may have voted to move the draft Local Plan forward, but the highways report still does not explain how traffic from 5,000 new homes makes daily life easier rather than worse - and that is what residents are deeply worried about.”

6. Paul Thorogood said: “At Regulation 18 stage, the Council is required to present realistic, proportionate and credible evidence to justify its options. Despite the Sub-committee’s decision to accept the highways report, that standard has not been met for Kings Dene. The assessment relies on basic assumptions rather than a clear demonstration that roads in and around Kelvedon and Feering can actually cope, raising serious questions about the Plan’s soundness.”

7. Long-term resident of Kelvedon, Simon Gibbs, said “The Local Plan sub-committee may have voted to move on, but a Local Plan built on assumptions rather than evidence is not sound. On Kings Dene’s impact on Kelvedon and Feering, the highways questions remain unanswered.”

8. Paul Thorogood said: “By sending this draft local plan to Full Council, without the full impact assessment on highways and local roads, the Local Plan Sub-committee has passed responsibility on to the Full Council rather than solving the outstanding issues. Proceeding on this basis risks locking in a strategic allocation before it’s feasibility has been proven.”