This is a new regular update on the Local Plan. You're receiving it because you said you were interested in "Planning" when you signed up to Rochford District Council's 'Tell Me More' mailing list.

Let's talk about transport

Thank you to everyone who is taking part in the Regulation 18 consultationon the emerging Rochford Local Plan. We're halfway through! You have until 24 March to comment.

We know there’s a lot of information to work through. Local Plans are long and complex by nature, and you're being consulted on the same document that the Planning Inspector will eventually see. We want to be open and show you the whole thing (and it is a legal requirement to!) but you don't have to read it all, or comment on all of it, if you don't want to.

Over the last few weeks of the consultation, we’ll highlight some of the key evidence that sits behind the draft plan, so you can see how different issues are being assessed.

One of those is the new Transport Assessment (TA), prepared by independent consultants SYSTRA.

What is a transport assessment?

The TA looks at how the district’s roads and junctions work now, and how different growth options could affect them in future. It includes detailed traffic modelling and technical analysis to test how the network might cope and where improvements could be needed.

The full report is long and technical. That’s why we’ve also published an Executive Summary.

Help navigating the consultation document

The Executive Summary explains, in plain English:

• how traffic data was collected

• how the modelling works

• the main findings

• the approach to potential mitigation

• what further work will happen before the next stage of the plan (Regulation 19)

You can read it as a quick overview, or use it as a guide to help you dip into the full report.

All Transport Assessment documents, including the full report and technical appendices, are available on the council’s evidence base webpage under Transport and Infrastructure. As part of ongoing evidence-gathering work, we are looking again at some traffic pinch points this year.

It's important that we have a Local Plan which reflects the reality of our district, and evidence - from residents as well as reports - is vital to making that happen.

A simpler route

If you’re finding the Regulation 18 Local Plan document itself hard to navigate, there is also a short, straightforward PDF guide on the council website. It gives a simple summary of each section and helps you get to the parts you're most interested in first.

You can also ask questions directly to planning officers at drop-in sessions. There are three left before the consultation ends on 24 March:

Rochford - Freight House, SS4 1BU - 3 March, 1pm-5pm

Great Wakering - Memorial Hall, SS3 0EF - 5 March, 3pm-7pm

Webinar: Zoom, 12 March, 7-8pm - please register here.

We encourage residents, businesses and community groups to review the material and share their views. Your feedback at this stage helps shape the next version of the plan.