We are absolutely appalled by the comments made by Stephen Horgan as reported by Jon Austin in the Echo newspaper tonight – 20^th July about the situation at Dry Street.

He is being very arrogant saying that a ”homes u turn is a grown up thing to do” the material facts have NOT changed – it is more important now than ever that we keep some green land when other areas are being sold off for development in the Basildon area. Soon there won’t be any green spaces left the way the Council are going!

We can and if possible will STOP the proposed Dry Street development. We have fought long and hard with the fantastic help of the Echo over the last few years and we will do it again!

At the moment as far as we can ascertain there isn’t a designated site for the proposed new College in the Town Centre, and there are no plans available to be seen for the proposed development. The Council own only a very small piece of the proposed site and the Homes and Communities Agency will we feel want to utilize as much of the land as possible; therefore building as many houses as they can.

The Tory Council were negligent in 2006 when they didn’t go through the correct procedures to get this land included in the Green Belt.

This proposed development will not only spoil the local area it will cause chaos too. The traffic flow even now at the Hospital roundabout builds up just before 4pm every day – it sometimes can take between half and one hour to get out from the Hospital so what would it be like if this business park and smaller development of houses goes ahead?

This area acts as a buffer between the Town and the country – it is ancient meadow land full of wild life and invertebrates.

We have been members of the Green Action Group for many years and urge residents to object and protest when the time comes so that we can preserve this piece if land for posterity for all to enjoy.

Yours sincerely

Edna and William McCready

Dear Sir

Dry Street Development

Cllr Horgan has re-iterated in successive meetings and interviews that re-locating Basildon Collegeto a town centre location will help solve the problem of NEETs and at the same time re-invigorate the economy of the town centre. These are in fact his main reasons for supporting the proposal. However, his failure to understand the essence of the NEET issue, and his flawed judgement that young people of 16-19 have so much disposable income that the town centre economy will be boosted by there presence is worrying in someone who has responsibility for the regeneration of the town.

The task-and-finish group established by Basildon Council to examine the NEETs issue in the borough produced a number of conclusions. Amongst these were the recognition that:

• a wide variety of opportunity already exists for young people in this category
• that clearer pathways for vocational and academic further education need to be signposted for young people
• and that, at a practical level, provision should be made as a matter of urgency for young people to re-sit examinations such as GCSE.

The task-and-finish group also recognised that “many young people with poor qualifications are still having difficulties accessing the majority of the training and employment opportunities available in the district.” Contrary to what Cllr Horgan seems to believe, ‘access’  in this context does not refer to the 15 minute walk from Basildon Train or Bus Station.

One of the main conclusions of the group was the recognition of the need for “creating more integrated working amongst those organisations involved in the NEET agenda.”   This is the nub of the issue. It is practising a cruel deception on young people, the Basildon community and local retail interests to claim that simply building a new 2,500 capacity college within yards of the Town Centre will lead Basildon into a new era of training for all and economic regeneration.

In their letter to local residents the partnership behind the development proposals at Dry Street assert that “experience elsewhere has shown” that the best location for a new college would be Basildon Town Centre. Cllr Horgan has admitted that the “experience elsewhere” is Southend. Again the perception that one size fits all is worrying.Basildonis not Southend.

Not so long ago Basildon College was content to sell off its playing fields for housing development and applied for and obtained planning permission. It had a range of expansion plans on the current site, a site which is currently under capacity in terms of course provision.

Despite Cllr Horgan’s protestations and the insulting argument that those who oppose the development plans – whatever they may be – have no concern for Basildon’s young people, the driving force behind them is the Homes and Communities Agency, anxious for a return on their capital asset at Dry Street. This, as for their predecessor English Partnerships, is their main motivation.

The Basildon community must not be blackmailed or bamboozled into thinking that these proposals will do anything other than change the nature and character of this part ofBasildonfor ever and open the way for even more development in the future.

Yours sincerely,

Cllr Geoff Williams

GAG – the Green Action Group –  was formed  in 2004 by concerned residents to oppose plans by English Partnerships – now the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) –  to develop the land between Lee Chapel South and Dry Street for housing. Backed by the Echo  newspaper, the campaign of opposition raised petitions of over 14,000 signatures and the support of local MPs. Faced with this amount of opposition, English Partnerships were forced to shelve their plans.

A NEW THREAT

Once again the ‘Land North of Dry Street‘ is threatened with development, this time backed by Basildon Borough Council, which has gone back on its commitment to try and include the land in the Green Belt. Some, but not all, residents in Lee Chapel South have received a letter from the HCA, Basildon council and South Essex College, who own the land, outlining their proposals.

We have reproduced the letter because we think it affects everybody who lives in Lee Chapel South and beyond. Please read it carefully.

Why do they want to develop the land ?

Well, don’t  be fooled into thinking that the main reason is to build houses.

The HCA, Basildon Council and the college want it sold off to finance a new college in Basildon Town Centre.

The new college appears to be the only reason that Basildon council is backing the idea.

So what’s so special about this land ?

It’s just about the only area of undeveloped land in this part of Basildon Borough.

It’s never been built on and contains environmentally important ancient  pasture land.

Even our wonderful local Essex Wildlife Trust reserves next door to the HCA land were mostly plotlands with small thriving communities.

This land is untouched. Many different bodies, including Basildon Council’s planners, have recognised the site’s ecological importance and have given it special status as a local wildlife site (LoWS).

Why a college in the Town Centre ?

Basildon Council argues that a town centre location would be “more accessible” to young people, despite the fact that the existing college is only 15 minutes walk from the bus and railway stations.

We understand from people who work there that the existing college is perfectly sound. It’s not falling down.

There’s plenty of room to expand. Except the college wants to sell its land…. Basildon Council also seems to believe that a town centre college will revitalise the Town Centre, with lots of students spending lots of money. Has the council really thought this through ? It doesn’t make sense to us.

And where ?

The Council hasn’t said yet. But they’re looking at car-parks near the station and perhaps other sites too.