Rebecca's May 2026 letter to Castle Point Council:

I write to object in the strongest possible terms to these applications for outline permission for residential development on Green Belt land east of Rayleigh Road (26/0190/OUT), and North of Daws Heath Road (26/0189/OUT). I also wish to further object to Castle Point Borough Council’s designation of the sites that are subject to these applications as ‘potential Grey Belt’ in their emerging local plan, a fact mentioned by the developers several times on pages IV, 2, 8, 9, 27, 28 of their Planning Statement to justify development.

These proposals represent yet another attempt to incrementally urbanise one of the most sensitive and valued Green Belt areas in Castle Point. Residents have fought for many years to protect this land from speculative development pressure, and I have consistently supported those efforts both publicly and through formal planning representations.

The importance of protecting this area was very recently reinforced by the dismissal of the appeal by the Planning Inspectorate, the last time developers attempted to obtain planning permission to develop this Green Belt land, a decision which is highly material to the determination of this application.

In dismissing that appeal, the Inspector concluded that substantial harm would arise to the openness of the Green Belt, the semi-rural character of the area, and the role the land plays in preventing urban sprawl and maintaining settlement separation. Those same concerns apply directly to this proposal.

The applicant’s Planning Statement seeks to downplay the contribution the site makes to Green Belt purposes by suggesting the land is weakly performing or heavily influenced by surrounding development. However, this fundamentally mischaracterises both the nature and strategic role of the site. The land remains visually open, forms part of the wider countryside setting of Daws Heath, and contributes meaningfully to the break between settlements. The existence of surrounding development pressure does not diminish the importance of preserving the remaining openness of the area. If anything, it makes the protection of what remains even more important.

I am also concerned that the applicant’s Green Belt analysis focuses too narrowly on the site in isolation and fails to properly consider the cumulative erosion of openness occurring across this wider part of the Borough. This is particularly important given the repeated speculative development pressure affecting adjoining Green Belt land. The National Planning Policy Framework remains clear that the essential characteristics of the Green Belt are also openness and permanence. Development of this scale would permanently urbanise presently open land and further weaken public confidence in the long-term protection of Castle Point’s Green Belt.

I strongly reject any attempt to imply that this land should somehow now be viewed as “Grey Belt” suitable for speculative release. Residents across Daws Heath and surrounding communities have fought for years to protect these landscapes precisely because they are valued, sensitive and strategically important Green Belt land. The Borough, facing housing pressure, does not suddenly erase those protections or the role this land continues to play.

The application’s sustainability claims are also significantly overstated. The submitted Planning Statement repeatedly characterises the site as sustainably located due to its proximity to existing residential areas and local services. However, this assessment fails to properly account for the cumulative infrastructure pressures already affecting Castle Point.

Residents already face growing strain on local roads, GP services, NHS dentistry, school places, drainage infrastructure and emergency access routes. The wider road network in this part of the Borough already experiences severe congestion at peak times, and the Transport Assessment appears to focus heavily on technical junction modelling while failing to fully reflect the lived reality experienced daily by residents.

Castle Point’s constrained highway network is already under considerable stress and piecemeal speculative development continues to intensify those pressures without delivering meaningful strategic infrastructure improvements. The application also fails to satisfactorily address cumulative development impacts when considered alongside existing committed developments, emerging Local Plan pressures and continuing speculative applications elsewhere in the Borough.

The applicant’s landscape evidence similarly understates the visual and character harm that would arise. Despite references to mitigation planting and landscaping buffers, the reality is that development of this land would fundamentally alter the character of the area from open Green Belt countryside into suburban housing estate development. Landscaping mitigation cannot realistically recreate the openness and undeveloped character that would be permanently lost.

Flooding and drainage concerns also remain highly significant. Castle Point is an environmentally constrained Borough already experiencing increasing drainage pressures. The submitted drainage strategy relies heavily on attenuation and engineered mitigation measures, yet residents across the Borough are increasingly concerned about the cumulative consequences of overdevelopment on local drainage systems. In recent years, concerns regarding surface water flooding and drainage resilience have become increasingly serious throughout Castle Point and these cumulative impacts cannot simply be considered site-by-site in isolation.

I am particularly concerned that the application attempts to frame housing need as justification for inappropriate Green Belt development while failing to properly address strategic alternatives. The Planning Inspectorate has recently raised serious concerns regarding Castle Point Borough Council’s Local Plan housing shortfall. However, this does not justify allowing speculative piecemeal Green Belt erosion in locations residents have consistently sought to protect.

If exceptional, Green Belt release ultimately becomes unavoidable through the strategic planning process, then development should be directed towards the most sustainable and least harmful location available. In my view, that location remains North West Thundersley, commonly referred to as the Blinking Owl site. Unlike this application site, North West Thundersley benefits from significantly superior strategic transport connectivity potential, sitting adjacent to the A127 corridor, offering opportunities for infrastructure-led masterplanning, containing areas of degraded and previously developed land, and could accommodate strategic growth in a coordinated and sustainable manner. That is fundamentally different from speculative incremental erosion of highly valued Green Belt land in Daws Heath.

The Council must also consider the dangerous precedent approval would create. Granting permission here would inevitably intensify speculative pressure across other treasured Green Belt areas throughout Castle Point. Residents are increasingly concerned that the gradual erosion of Green Belt protections is occurring through cumulative speculative applications rather than transparent strategic planning.

The NPPF remains clear that Green Belt boundaries should only be altered in exceptional circumstances through the Local Plan process. This proposal conflicts with that principle and would result in substantial and permanent harm.

For all of these reasons, I strongly urge the Council to refuse this application.