Welcome To
Hambro Hill United
Community Group
Join us to stay informed and engaged with planning issues specifically the proposed development for 150 homes, affecting Hambro Hill, Hambro Close, Hockley Road and all surrounding roads. We bring transparency and community insight to local developments, residents have a stronger voice if they are united
Important!
We are getting feedback from a lot of Hambro Hill and Hockley Road residents that didn’t go to the developers meeting and that is they simply don’t realise how close the access road (and houses/flats) will be to their back fence (5 metres). So all of those houses will have a road at the back as well as the front if this madness isn't stopped! The residents on the opposite side of Hockley Road, will see those new buildings instead of the horses they currently see from their front bedroom windows.
These are the developers plans, not ours or AI generated. They told us that we didn't need to bother taking photos of their banners at their consultation as it would all be available on their website. That was on 24th of March and there is still nothing on there as of today (13th April) so draw your own conclusions from that
It's great to see lots of posters up on Hambro Hill and Hockley Road!!
If you've arrived on this website because of them this is what it's all about.
Rochford District Council is currently consulting on proposals to allocate the Green Belt land to the north of Hambro Hill for 150 new homes as part of the emerging Local Plan
This site is identified as CFS105(a)
Why This Matters.
Development here could:
- Reduce important Green Belt land separating Rayleigh and Hockley
- Increase traffic pressure on already constrained local roads
- Impact drainage, flooding and local infrastructure capacity
- Affect wildlife habitats, landscape character and countryside views
- Insufficient infrastructure including schools, doctors, dentists etc
The impact will be felt by all surrounding roads and residents, not only those living closest to, or overlooking the site.
Lots of us have had our say via the response forms and as a group we took almost 400 completed forms to the planning department, plus any more that were posted/delivered in person or emailed in. That is a huge amount for what is a fairly small site so thank you to everyone that got involved and engaged!
If We Don't Protect Our Green Spaces, Everything Will Eventually Die
Please Donate!
Donate Securely Via Our GoFundMe Page
Our GoFundMe page has been set up to help cover the costs of running a community group. Printing costs, legal advice, planning advice etc.
Our first major goal will be using the services of a planning expert, the fees for this are £1500 plus VAT so we've set the initial target at £2000 because we'll have other printing costs etc. to cover. Please put in whatever you can. If you can't afford to donate that's absolutely fine but please share our page to your friends and neighbours!!
Any donations no matter how big or small will be greatly appreciated
What Is The GoFundMe For?
A Brief Outline
Why we are asking for donations and what it will be used for.
We have collected about four hundred responses to the Rochford District Local Plan consultation - Stage 1 which in technical terms is a Regulation 18 consultation. Stage 2 i.e. Regulation 19 will be in the autumn of 2026.
So far so good.
We have also been and continue to be active with the local councillors and MP again prudent actions.
Hollybrook the potential developer have made a pre-application to Rochford District Council (timescale about 8 weeks), this will most likely be followed by an outline planning application (timescale 8-13 weeks) and a full planning application (timescale about 13 weeks).
In other words, they could start building in less than 6 months.
We are not planning experts, Hollybrook will have appointed a planning expert. We will be disadvantaged if we do not get professional advice. Therefore, we need to get on with it, hence the request for funds.
Like you all we don’t have a pot of money for this process and there may be other fees further down the line (we do not yet know) but to have a chance of stopping Hollybrook taking advantage of no Local Plan being in place we need to be ready to object and need professional advice to do this to maximum effect.
What service will the planning expert provide:
1. Receive instructions and client briefing
2. Review RDC Development Plan and policies
3. Attend and speak at residents’ meeting
4. Draft outline of matters to guide resident objections;
5. Liaise with Local Planning Authority (LPA);
6. Liaise with client on preparation of objection letter, and submit to LPA on their behalf;
9. Monitor application & make client aware of issues arising from the application process;
10. Instruct experts where appropriate (additional cost)
11. Receive LPA’s formal decision for review and client debrief
12. Prepare Appeal submission (if required)
If you have any further questions or concerns about donating please contact us
Thanks for putting up the posters in your windows, please talk to your neighbours and friends about what we're up against and how we're trying to preserve our green spaces
Hambro Hill United champions the rights and concerns of local residents by monitoring planning proposals and sharing timely updates. Our focus is on fostering a united community that actively participates in shaping the future of our neighbourhood.
For most of us Green Belt always meant land that can never be built on. This is no longer the case because we now have a new, conveniently named, Grey Belt. Hambro Hill and many other sites are now considered Grey and open to interest from developers. In short, Green Belt no longer means safe from development.
The proposed site will only be accessible by HGVs from Hockley Road and Hambro Hill itself which means that all construction traffic that is over 3.7m high will have to come down to the A127 to Rayleigh Weir, then through the High Street and out the other side due to the low bridges in Rayleigh. Considering that most construction supplies come on trucks this will be a huge increase in HGV traffic all through Rayleigh town centre. The small roundabout at the Hambro/Hockley junction can barely cope with the car transporters as it is, with constant broken kerbstones and damaged drain covers
The video below is of the traffic at a standstill in both directions on Hockley Road at 2pm on 11th March due to just one set of two way traffic lights on Hambro Hill.
Local Planning Updates
We will be constantly updating our progress with regular insights and alerts on the planning proposal impacting Hambro Hill.
