Dozens of sites have been put forward for development to prevent Castle Point from falling victim to “land grabs” by developers.
Among the “potential” sites for development listed includes 271 homes at the council offices, in Kiln Road, 374 homes at USP College (Seevic), in Kiln Road, 14 homes at Canvey police station, and 187 new homes where Morrisons in Hadleigh sits.
Castle Point Council has stressed nothing is set in stone but has launched a consultation on its draft local plan, which has more than 100 “potential sites for development” listed.
People’s Independent Party councillor, Warren Gibson, deputy leader of Castle Point Council, said: “We want Castle Point to prosper and to do this we must ensure we have the right housing, infrastructure, green spaces and services to meet our communities’ needs. That is what the Castle Point plan will do and from the start we pledged we would ensure that the development of this document would be resident led. It’s therefore vital that as many people as possible have their say.”
In the proposed document, there are also 16 green belt sites listed, including Boyce Hill Golf Course, land off Glebelands, and land south of Hadleigh. The council insists that all sites shown are identified as “potential sources of development only” and are “not allocations at this stage”.
However, Hadleigh resident Martin England said: “It’s the destruction of Hadleigh and Castle Point. A new local plan consultation that builds on green belt, the very same sites that PIP fought against for years.
“They want to build 1,700 houses on Hadleigh Salvation Army farmland and another 700 homes around the town centre, demolishing Morrisons and Lidl, Hadleigh Old Fire Station, the library, bus station, and health clinic. This is not what the people of Hadleigh voted for.”
Sean Quartermaine, Canvey resident, added: “If the worst-case scenario happens, they might as well rename our town from Canvey Island to Concrete Island. Everyone knows the infrastructure and public services in the area have been strained for a long time.”
The last adopted local plan – setting out a vision for development in Castle Point – was from 1998, after the council scrapped a previous proposed plan in June 2022. To have your say, visit tinyurl.com/227wuy3w