Castle Point faces being 'overdeveloped' residents fear

Residents have voiced serious concerns the borough will become overdeveloped, with a lack of infrastructure to support hundreds of new homes

The main three proposals, in Benfleet, are for land at Jotmans Farm for up to 850 homes, land east of Rayleigh Road for up to 455 homes, and land off Glyders for up to 35 homes.

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Linda Green Shaw, a resident who lives close to Jotmans Farm, said: “I really oppose any kind of building work like this as not only is it destroying nature, and the green belt, it will cause pollution, noise, and congestion on already over-populated roads.

“With the 850 homes at Jotmans, these plans have already been turned down year after year, yet developers are still trying to destroy the beauty we have there at the moment.

“I fear Castle Point will become completely overdeveloped, as it is already so overpopulated, everything will come to a standstill.

“We just don’t want any more houses built here as Castle Point cannot withstand it.”

Back in September, the Government warned the council it needs a new housing plan in place to ward off “speculative developments”.

Pressure is continuing to mount for the borough to return with a new plan before the December 2023 deadline, after the original plan was scrapped earlier in the year.

Rebecca Harris, Tory MP for Castle Point, has also submitted responses to all three proposals, opposing the plans.

She said: “I urge all residents who would be affected by these proposals to respond to the consultations and leave the developers in no doubt as to their views.

I have submitted responses opposing the plans (for all three sites).

“If the developers do go ahead and submit their planning application based on these proposals, you can be absolutely confident I will make very strong representations in my formal submissions on behalf of my residents.”