This is the official response from Hullbridge Parish Council regarding the Spatial Options Questions and Answers for Rochford District Council's Local Plan 2021. This will be submitted to Rochford District Council today; 14th September 2021.  This will also be promoted on our Facebook Page.

Please note the deadline to submit your response is 5pm on Wednesday 22nd September 2021.

Rochford District Council reserves the right to reject any late comments.

Please make your voice heard and your views count by submitting your response before the deadline.

Below is the pdf link of our response.  You can copy and paste from this pdf into your own document or by copy and paste directly into the Q&A's on Rochford District Council's website.

Our Official Response - pdf  ( Please feel free to use this as a template for your own response to Rochford District Council's Local Plan: Spatial Options.)

Link to Online Consultation Portal.

If you are unable to use the online portal, you can also view a physical copy of the document in local libraries and Council offices when open. Please note these locations may have restricted operating ours due to ongoing Coronavirus restrictions.

Link to Rochford District Council's website; Spatial Options document/Q&A's.  If you click on each link it gives more indepth information regarding each question.  You will need to log-in/register to answer the questions online within this section.

Link to Spatial Options document on Rochford District Council's website  

How can you get involved?  The quickest and simplest way of accessing the documents and making comments is by using Rochford District Council's online consultation portal. You will need to create a profile in order to leave comments.

You can also send in comments by email to spatialoptions@rochford.gov.uk or by letter to:

Planning Policy, Council Offices, South Street, Rochford, SS4 1BW.

Please note Rochford District Council are not able to accept anonymous, defamatory or discriminatory comments.

Rochford District Council have also made an interactive map available to help inform those responding to the consultation. A guide to using the map is also provided under Related Content.

 Rochford District Council are aware that planning issues can be technical and difficult to understand at first glance. As a result, they have published some Frequently Asked Questions which are linked from the Related Content section. These Frequently Asked Questions will be updated regularly.

Officers from the Strategic Planning team held an online information webinar on Wednesday 25 August. Information was provided about the consultation and responses were given to questions submitted in advance by members of the public. The webinar has been uploaded to Rochford District Council’s Youtube channel and can be watched back by those unable to watch live. Written responses have also been given to all of the questions submitted by members of the public, including those that could not be answered verbally during the webinar. These written responses are available at Spatial Options Virtual Webinar: Question Responses.

Interested parties are also encouraged to sign up to our planning mailing list

What happens next?

Once the consultations have closed Rochford District Council will consider all comments made and publish feedback reports summarising the main issues raised and providing an initial response.

The new Local Plan will then progress to the next stage, taking account of all representations received. A timetable for the preparation of the new Local Plan is provided on page 7 in the Local Development Scheme document in Related Content.

The Statement of Community Involvement will progress to Full Council at Rochford where the Council will need to consider what changes are required to the document and to consider adopting it.

UPDATE: Hullbridge Parish Council Christmas Fayre & light switch-on.

It is with a heavy heart that we have to announce that this year's Hullbridge Parish Council Christmas Fayre & Light switch-on has been cancelled (due to take place on Saturday 4th December 2021).

With the current uptick of Covid-19 cases, with the likelyhood of further increases leading up to December, coupled with stricter, tighter controls imposed by the First Aid Service, which would be near on impossible to adhere to we felt the only option was to cancel this year's event.
Given the requirements now needed we cannot guarantee social distancing or meet the new required guidance.

We understand similar Parish and Town councils have come to the same conclusion for their events for the same reasons.

We will, however still have our Christmas tree lit up in Pooles Lane Car park, along with the Christmas street lights. We will also be running the following competitions as usual:

Chairman's Christmas Card Competition for under 11 year olds
Best Dressed Window.

The over 80's Christmas Parcels will be sent out as normal.
Thank you for your understanding.