EIA (ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACE ASSESSMENT) SCOPING FOR RESDIENTIAL DEVELOPMENT FOR UP TO 1770 DWELLINGS

Planning & Development Management, Maldon District Council

30^th October 2025

Stow Maries Parish Council response to planning application 25/00926/SOR – Request for Environment Impact Assessment Scoping Opinion for Residential Development for up to 1770 dwellings. Location: Land South West Of Hogwell Farm, Hogwell Chase, Stow Maries, Essex.

Dear Sir

Having engaged with residents within our Parish, Stow Maries Parish Council would like to provide this response to the above-mentioned planning application.

Overall, while the development raises many concerns, we would like to focus on two: the location and design of the site for the proposed development; and infrastructure.

Location and design of the site for the proposed development

Stow Maries has always had an aesthetically pleasing defined boundary that respects the gently rolling countryside surrounding it. This development in particular juts out an extremely awkward angle simply to fill land up to the district boundary line. Such a development threatens: (a) to create a disjointed area of housing from the rest of the village; (b) the relationship with Maldon District Council and the parish councils within Maldon District; and (c) the aesthetic of the entire area. This area is clearly outside of any settlement zone within Stow Maries village.

The area in question is important for a number of reasons related to environment, rural character and community wellbeing:

• The land has not been intensively farmed for many years and as a result offers excellent soil health, which is an effective climate change mitigation tool. This and the thick hedgerows also offer significant wildlife and biodiversity value.
• The site is in an especially prominent position, particularly to the north of the land in question as it rises up to almost 20 metres above sea level. This initiates one of the most prominent plateaus along the ‘Crouch Valley’, which is highly visible from as far away as Althorne and South of the River Crouch to Rochford and beyond.
• The site also builds over the old railway line from Maldon to South Woodham Ferrers. This dates back to the late 1800’s and is a significant part of our local heritage. Much of the line is widely used as a footpath and bridle path in Maldon District and there remains great interest among walkers seeking to walk the line back to South Woodham Ferrers.
• In part due to the reasons above, the site is widely appreciated for being a peaceful and beautiful area that is important for community wellbeing.
• It is also prejudicial to the protection of important protected environmentally sensitive sites in the locality, particularly the “Upper Crouch and Woodham Scarp”, “Hawes Ancient Woodland and Crouch and Roach Estuaries”, SSSI sites including Stow Marsh, and SPA/Ramsar and Stow Maries Reservation.
• There is a substantial risk that the marshland on the south of the proposed site and to the east of South Woodham Ferrers, a Site of Special Scientific Interest, would be subject to and fundamentally changed by a substantial increase in footfall, and surface water run-off increasing the risk of flooding on sites that are already subject to high surface water flood risk.

The development would destroy this rare and important landscape, which has significant local value.

This issue was recognised in Maldon District Council’s own response to the masterplan submitted for the land north of South Woodham Ferrers (reference Chelmsford planning application 20/00002/MAS), as follows:[1]

“Impacts on the character and appearance of the countryside

1. The Maldon District Local Development Plan places a strong emphasis on protecting the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside (Policies, S1, S8 and D1). The proposed development adjoins the Maldon District boundary and the countryside that lies within Maldon District Council’s (MDC) control. From the information submitted, areas of employment, residential accommodation, Travelling Showpeople’s yard, early year’s education facilities and allotments are proposed adjacent to the boundary.
2. Currently, South Woodham Ferrers is contained within the inner part of Burnham Road and there is no substantial development to the east, adjacent to the shared boundary. The area between Stow Maries and the urban centre of South Woodham Ferrers is largely free from built form and forms a transition between the urban area and rural countryside beyond. Maldon District Council, therefore, have concerns that the development of the eastern side of Burnham Road, adjacent to the District boundary and at the gateway to the Maldon District would erode this rural character.”

Infrastructure

Our locality already suffers from inadequate infrastructure, with trains, roads, schools and doctors, dentist and veterinary practices all running at full capacity. The proposed development will add significantly to these pressures. A substantial local campaign has demonstrated the significant social unease with issues of road congestion from the new development on the outskirts of South Woodham Ferrers and this development site will only add to the issue. Road capacity was also an area of major concern noted by Maldon District Council in its response to the masterplan submitted for the land to the north of South Woodham Ferrers (reference Chelmsford planning application 20/00002/MAS).

Stow Maries Parish Council aims to ensure that highway decisions associated with this development are not detrimental to our village and those who live in the Dengie, not least by ensuring provision for ‘improvements to the local and strategic road network as required by the Local Highways Authority’ in line with Chelmsford Planning Policy DM30.

Wickford bound queues are being seen at Sainsbury’s and traffic is increasingly using Edwin Halls Lane and Woodham Road as “rat runs”. Stow Maries residents and surrounding villages will experience the same rat run effects through Church Lane, Honeypot Lane and then Crows Lane as the traffic backs up passed Great Hayes each morning. This already happens at the slightest sign of a delay without the future building or road calming measures and other junctions/crossings that are proposed.  The proposed addition of pedestrian crossings will exacerbate these problems and contribute to worsening air quality. Adding this development of 1770 dwellings, will only add to the problem.

The current proposal will also have an unacceptable impact on road safety. School children will need to cross the busy B1012 and Lower Burnham Road to attend school and return home. Whilst parents may accompany infants and junior school pupils (or probably drive them to school), William De Ferrers teenage students are more likely to walk/cycle. Such a volume of young people crossing extremely busy roads is dangerous.

We believe it appropriate for MDC to consider the recent Refusal of planning Application 22/00314/OUTM – 550 Dwellings in Althorne. We draw your attention to the Officers reasoning and the strength of feeling from the 299 residents who objected to that particular development. It would be fair to say, the same strength of feeling exists in Stow Maries and all the surrounding areas in the Dengie, regarding this and all other applications to build on and destroy the local landscape.

We include the officer’s comments for refusing the above application, 22/00314/OUTM, as this reasoning also applies to this application: –

1. The proposed development is beyond a settlement boundary where development plan policies seek to protect the intrinsic character and beauty of the countryside. The site comprises a valued landscape with a high sensitivity to change. The resultant effect of the proposed development on the character of the landscape would be substantial and adverse. The adverse impacts of the development in terms of landscape and visual impact would significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits when assessed against the policies in the Local Development Plan and the National Planning Policy Framework taken as a whole. The proposal is therefore contrary to Policies S1, S8 and D1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework.

2. The Council’s strategic policies seek to focus growth in the District’s main settlements of Maldon, Heybridge and Burnham on-Crouch as they constitute the most suitable and accessible locations in the District. The proposal would introduce large scale residential development beyond the settlement boundary of Althorne, identified as a ‘smaller village’ in Policy S8 which provides limited services, facilities and employment opportunities, where the principle of the proposed development is not supported. The site is not well located in terms of access to and provision of public transport, access roads are constrained and narrow, and there is not sufficient infrastructure to support the scale of development proposed. The majority of journeys to and from the site would be reliant on travel by private car. Accordingly, the proposal would result in unsustainable development. The proposal conflicts with the development plan’s spatial framework contrary to Policies S1, S2, S8, I1, and T1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework.

3. The application includes insufficient ecological information to assess the impact of the proposed development on European Protected Species (Great Crested Newt). The proposal is contrary to Policies S1, D1, N1 and N2 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework.

4. In the absence of a completed legal agreement pursuant to Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 the proposal fails to:

• include adequate provision to secure the delivery of affordable housing to meet the identified need in the locality, address the Council’s strategic objectives on affordable housing, and supporting a mixed and balanced community, contrary to Policies S1, H1 and I1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework;

• secure the necessary contribution towards healthcare provision, such that the impact of the development cannot be mitigated, contrary to Policies S1 and I1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework;

• secure the necessary contributions towards education provision, such that the impact of the development cannot be mitigated, such that the impact of the development cannot be mitigated, contrary to Policies S1 and I1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework;

• secure the necessary transport improvements such that the impact of the development cannot be mitigated, such that the impact of the development cannot be mitigated, contrary to Policies T1, T2 and I1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework;

• secure the necessary financial contribution towards Essex Coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance and Mitigation Strategy or an appropriate mitigation strategy to overcome the impacts of the development on the European designated nature conservation sites, and the development would thereby have an adverse impact on those European designated nature conservation sites, contrary to Policies S1, D1, N1, N2 and I1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan, the Essex Coast Recreational disturbance Avoidance Mitigation Strategy Supplementary Planning Document, and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework. Page 77.

• secure the necessary contribution towards green infrastructure and sports provision, such that the impact of the development cannot be mitigated, contrary to Policies S1 and I1 of the approved Maldon District Local Development Plan and guidance in the National Planning Policy Framework.

We hope that this feedback is well received and incorporated into review process. If there are any questions, please feel free to contact us at clerk.stowmariesparishcouncil@gmail.com.

[1] https://democracy.maldon.gov.uk/documents/s20034/Appendix%201.pdf.