MM42

Take the Wick out of the LP. The consequences across a range of things (including flooding) will be dire.

Serious road flooding along major network roads is regular problem and no-one has any confidence that they will be sorted. All agencies have been dragging their feet for years.
Building on the Wick will make them worse..

Remove the Wick.

No mention has been made of the frequent flooding along Haven Rd, Hythe, close to Colne River. This is now a regular event at high tide. Water levels rise to a point that most vehicles cannot drive through it. All attempts by various agencies to resolve the matter have failed. (partly faulty equipment but also lack of urgency and attention) This is part of the so-called informal southern relief road. Massive tailbacks and disturbance to peoples lives and commerce. Heaven help it if more housing, plus cars, get built on the Wick with all the attendant ramifications. Alternative? Ferry service?

It is not very well explained how a new development will deal with the event of flooding. The Hythe area in Colchester is a notorious problem area, and has been for many years - with very little being done to remedy the issues. More housing can only lead to a greater strain on public water channels. I would like to see an in-depth discussion of the potential knock-on effects of the Middlewick development on the Hythe area.

I am very worried about the development's impact on flooding in the city.

Should be modified to say all areas around the Middlewick Ranges including the status of the Hythe were the water pipes will come from and sewage. This area has a collapsing Quay above the sewage outlet and is already flooding. What impact would this have on the River Colne where parts of it is also an SSSI.

This is an ambigious modification and the fact Anglia Water has to comply despite stating that the infracture for water and sewage is not fit for purpose. This area has underground springs which has not been mentioned in SWIMP and there flooding in areas (ie the area of Speedwell road not mentioned) on and around the Middlewick Ranges. The alterations to the Brook are also of concern with regards to water.

The developer must determine the additional impacts that will arise from any proposed development on Middlewick, and commit to a legal mechanism to ensure financial contributions commensurate with resolving these are determined at time of application.

Well documented flooding events within CDA01, particularly at Haven Road, regularly demonstrate that the existing drainage system cannot cope with current housing and business densities. Development at Middlewick will likely exacerbate this situation.
Rather than 'Contributions will be sought towards towards the costs of delivering flood defence/flood management solutions...', contributions should be a legal requirement and/or planning condition, at a cost commensurate with that to resolve the additional impacts arising from up to 1000 houses.

In summary, the changes set out in the Main Modifications serve to increase the effectiveness and consequent soundness of the Local Plan.

Anglian Water notes the increase in housing numbers overall, the increased focus on urban Colchester to deliver more new homes and the deletion of one of the Garden Communities from the Plan. I have reviewed Anglian Water’s previous comments and also note that Anglian Water did not enter into a Statement of Common Ground with the Council. I note that no changes are proposed in relation to the Copford and Langham developments in connection with their wastewater infrastructure requirements.

Anglian Water broadly supports the Main Modifications. In addition to the retention of text covering wastewater infrastructure and environmental policy and the monitoring of policy in decisions and outcomes we specifically support the following changes:

ENV1
13.8. The inclusion of the requirement for 10% biodiversity net gain and its addition to Policy ENV1.
13.X. The clarification that in making decisions the Council will seek to encourage development proposals which improve the quality of the water environment.
Policy ENV1. Inclusion of the reference to the Anglian River Basin Management Plan.
ENV3 & CC1 -
Policy ENV3. Additional support for green infrastructure measures to protect and enhance water bodies as this supports the existing SuDS policies.
13.49, 13.50 AM23 and Policy CC1. Specific targets for increasing tree canopy cover as this nature based solutions are one element of Anglian Water’s own pathway to get to net zero by 2030.
PP1
Policy PP1. Clarification that proposals must also demonstrate adequate water supply network enhancements.
SC1
14.X. The inclusion of the ABRO site. Please see Anglian Water’s comments dated 27 October 2021.
SC2
14.60. The inclusion of the requirement that proposals for the Middlewick Ranges site make contributions towards the costs of delivering flood defence and management solutions in view of its location in the Critical Drainage Area.
SS2
14.137. Clarification through deletion that enhancements to wastewater treatment and sewerage infrastructure are not needed in Boxted to serve the Hill Farm development.
SS12c
14.206. Confirmation that all criteria must be meet by development proposals including adequate wastewater treatment and sewage infrastructure capacity.
DM11
15.49. Confirmation that sites will be required to have water and sewage infrastructure and be connected to the mains sewer system.
DM13
15.66. Inclusion of water efficiency as one of the ways in which the existing housing stock when it is extended or altered can help to address climate change given that water and wastewater provision uses energy
DM23
15.139. The update to the position on Critical Drainage Areas identified by ECC and the consequent need to ensure that surface water flooding is considered in developments in and near these locations including the use of SuDS to deliver betterment for the existing and new communities.
DM25
15.149 and 15.150. Full reference to the Water Cycle Study. 15.151. Inclusion of the reference on higher water efficiency standards and the consequent importance of Building Regulations for water body quality.

Remove the Wick from the Local Plan

A green cemetery would benefit the Wick.
Building houses will increase sewage, waste water and ground water.
Increased sewage etc will mean the sewage work will pump even more into the Colne

No houses should be built

Water run off from any building on the acid grassland will effect the amount of water filtering into the brook which runs behind bordering gardens on birch glen.
Any extra water will flood these gardens and ruin marsh habitat bordering the brook.
The new houses on top of the hill may be ok but the lower birch glen will take all the fallout.

Remove Middlewick from the local plan.

Haven Road in the Hythe area of Colchester, next to the River Colne, regularly floods, and has done for many years. Building 1000 houses on Middlewick which is very close to Haven Road, will add to the problem of flooding. The old sewerage and water system cannot cope with extra houses. With the sewerage works being in this area too, there is a significant health risk when flooding occurs. The problem is becoming worse.
Green areas with trees like Middlewick help with drainage and absorption of water, and are vital to prevent flooding. We urgently need to keep green spaces.

Housing on Middlewick should be removed from the plans.
No housing should be built on greenfield site under COP26 ruling. Greenfield areas soaks up far more water and can drain away deep into the soil whereas water in drains need somewhere to go which would be in to the river Colne which is already flooding but will cause more flooding than ever and no riverbank wall will prevent floods but will be environmentally disaster and health risks.
Drainage system along Haven Road needs to be re routed drains need to be emptied and free from debris which also is contributing floods. New riverbank walls need to installed and able to hold out regular high tides with the ongoing climate change. Drains all over Colchester needs to be emptied too.

For years, Haven Road has been flooded and getting worse as high tide is becoming more frequent due to climate change. We have sewage and water works under complete strain using old and out of date machinery. However, nothing has been done because Essex County Council, CBC, Anglian Water and Essex Highways fail to admit responsibility, now the wall of the riverbank has collapsed. Thousand houses on the Middlewick with no land for water to drain plus sewage works at it's mercy is going to cause chaos and more floods. This is environmentally disaster and breaks the COP26 ruling.

Introduce the strongest possible drainage and water protection allow under existing guidance and law.

There is significant flooding already in the Hythe area and therefore we should be maximising all possible works to look at the drainage including SUDS in the area. This if it is done incorrectly will only make the existing issues worse. The current Anglian Water plant cannot cope with the effluent it processes now.

The developer must determine the additional impacts that will arise from any proposed development on Middlewick, and commit to a legal mechanism to ensure financial contributions commensurate with resolving these are determined at time of application.

Well documented flooding events within CDA01, particularly at Haven Road, regularly demonstrate that the existing drainage system cannot cope with current housing and business densities. Development at Middlewick will likely exacerbate this situation.
Rather than 'Contributions will be sought towards towards the costs of delivering flood defence/flood management solutions...', contributions should be a legal requirement and/or planning condition, at a cost commensurate with that to resolve the additional impacts arising from up to 1000 houses.

A condition of the planning would be that any new development does not increase the burdens on existing water and drainage infrastructure.
Capacity must be increased at the sewage works to cope with the any new development.
Flood management measures must form part of the development. This will include ensuring hard road surfaces, driveways and gardens are permeable to allow rain water to drain away.

Soakaways are provided for each property to allow excess rainwater from roofs for example to drain away. A separate pipe network for rainwater run off be established so that it does not discharge with raw sewage into the environment.

There are severe flood management and sewage capacity issues in Colchester and in this area, particularly at the Hythe.
Before further development should be considered the existing water and sewage infrastructure needs to be improved to cope with both existing and any proposed new development.
Contributions should be sought to improve sewage and run off water pipelines and capacity to deal with this at the sewage works in the Hythe.
The area already suffers from severe flooding particularly during heavy rainfall and high tides on the River Colne. Roads in the Hythe area become impassable.
There have currently been many sewage outages in the area where raw sewage is discharged into existing rivers and outfall pipes.
The site at Middlewick Ranges is sandy soil which allows water to soakaway and acts as a very efficient and large flood defence mechanism.

My proposal is this:

Chunks of land of this size will not be more available in the future. There is already a healthy diverse wildlife population living in a biodiverse habitat. There is scope to support the existing populations to thrive whilst also providing a home and sanctuary for other displaced wildlife populations from other parts of Colchester. Use this land as the wildlife corridor it currently is (between the cemetery, Friday woods, Fingringhoe ranges and the fields leading to Mersea) and allow it to flourish so that it can help combat climate change and protect wildlife (including those already vulnerable to extinction like the stag beetle, hedgehog, cuckoo as well as native snakes and lizards) and plant-life populations (like the mature oak trees and gorse land).

Rewild much of this land as a sponge to soak up more water from the local area.
Sell carbon credits to pay for the trees and management staff
Link up with charities and the MOD to create a wellbeing centre on the site to help MOD staff recover and reintegrate with local populations and involve MOD and Mind volunteers in social prescribing focusing on the rewilding and management of the site.
Use this site as an education centre for the growing eco careers sector.

I would genuinely love to be a part of this project and would happily dedicate the rest of my life to developing this site to be a hub of sustainability and nature. Please don’t waste it on a housing estate, its too important as it is and should be helped to thrive. There can be money made from this venture.

• Challenge to 14.53. The existing civil infrastructure (public transport aside) is already overstretched and not capable of sustaining thousands of additional people accessing the already existing facilities:
o Schools. No space to build new primary or secondary schools nearby and not enough capacity to accommodate the additional pupils.
o GP surgeries. Already oversubscribed and overstretched
o Roads. During rush hours, already heavily congested at ‘The Willows’, Abbots road (both ends), the Hythe, and at the mouth of Mersea road in town. Along with the proposals for development elsewhere along the Mersea road, traffic congestion will increase in these pinch points even with the other proposals to road infrastructure development.

• Challenge to 14.54. There are no commitments made to include societies which should also be involved in any developments of this scale and nature. Like DEFRA or Wild England.
• Challenge to 14.56. Given the existing and predicted impact of climate change I feel that the surveys should consider existing vulnerable and endangered species living on the site, and the possibility of this site being used to rehome vulnerable and endangered species from elsewhere when conducting research on this site during this ‘survey season’.
• Challenge to 14.60. Consideration of development of the site into cemetery extension and green cemetery is counterproductive when conserving rare habitats like the gorse land and boggy woodland areas of the site. Changing the surrounding habitat of these areas will undoubtable impact on the viability and sustainability of these important wildlife areas. Creating more grassed areas (like a cemetery) will only encourage a limited number of species and will not cope as well with increasing temperature and more extreme weather than the existing plantlife.
• Challenge to 14.62. The site itself can be used to provide robust flood defences by involving DEFRA and Natural England and the consideration of beaver reintroduction in other MOD areas such as Friday Woods and Fingringhoe ranges. By planting appropriately across the boggy woodland of Middlewick, the town can be further protected from flooding whilst increasing carbon capture.
• Challenge to Policy SC2:
o This site is too large and well established to be developed. It is already invaluable in the fight against climate change and habitat loss and could be developed in other economically viable ways to generate income.
o Strategic areas of open space often means mowed areas. These are not making the best use of the land to combat climate change, encourage or protect wildlife nor is it as stimulating in terms of the wellbeing of local peoples living in the area. The flavonoids given off by plant, tree and fungi species in a thriving woodland habitat are scientifically proven to have a positive impact on emotional wellbeing of humans. Monocultures like ‘green spaces’ do not provide this.

My proposal is this:

Chunks of land of this size will not be more available in the future. There is already a healthy diverse wildlife population living in a biodiverse habitat. There is scope to support the existing populations to thrive whilst also providing a home and sanctuary for other displaced wildlife populations from other parts of Colchester. Use this land as the wildlife corridor it currently is (between the cemetery, Friday woods, Fingringhoe ranges and the fields leading to Mersea) and allow it to flourish so that it can help combat climate change and protect wildlife (including those already vulnerable to extinction like the stag beetle, hedgehog, cuckoo as well as native snakes and lizards) and plant-life populations (like the mature oak trees and gorse land).

Rewild much of this land as a sponge to soak up more water from the local area.
Sell carbon credits to pay for the trees and management staff
Link up with charities and the MOD to create a wellbeing centre on the site to help MOD staff recover and reintegrate with local populations and involve MOD and Mind volunteers in social prescribing focusing on the rewilding and management of the site.
Use this site as an education centre for the growing eco careers sector.

I would genuinely love to be a part of this project and would happily dedicate the rest of my life to developing this site to be a hub of sustainability and nature. Please don’t waste it on a housing estate, its too important as it is and should be helped to thrive. There can be money made from this venture.

• Challenge to 14.53. The existing civil infrastructure (public transport aside) is already overstretched and not capable of sustaining thousands of additional people accessing the already existing facilities:
o Schools. No space to build new primary or secondary schools nearby and not enough capacity to accommodate the additional pupils.
o GP surgeries. Already oversubscribed and overstretched
o Roads. During rush hours, already heavily congested at ‘The Willows’, Abbots road (both ends), the Hythe, and at the mouth of Mersea road in town. Along with the proposals for development elsewhere along the Mersea road, traffic congestion will increase in these pinch points even with the other proposals to road infrastructure development.

• Challenge to 14.54. There are no commitments made to include societies which should also be involved in any developments of this scale and nature. Like DEFRA or Wild England.
• Challenge to 14.56. Given the existing and predicted impact of climate change I feel that the surveys should consider existing vulnerable and endangered species living on the site, and the possibility of this site being used to rehome vulnerable and endangered species from elsewhere when conducting research on this site during this ‘survey season’.
• Challenge to 14.60. Consideration of development of the site into cemetery extension and green cemetery is counterproductive when conserving rare habitats like the gorse land and boggy woodland areas of the site. Changing the surrounding habitat of these areas will undoubtable impact on the viability and sustainability of these important wildlife areas. Creating more grassed areas (like a cemetery) will only encourage a limited number of species and will not cope as well with increasing temperature and more extreme weather than the existing plantlife.
• Challenge to 14.62. The site itself can be used to provide robust flood defences by involving DEFRA and Natural England and the consideration of beaver reintroduction in other MOD areas such as Friday Woods and Fingringhoe ranges. By planting appropriately across the boggy woodland of Middlewick, the town can be further protected from flooding whilst increasing carbon capture.
• Challenge to Policy SC2:
o This site is too large and well established to be developed. It is already invaluable in the fight against climate change and habitat loss and could be developed in other economically viable ways to generate income.
o Strategic areas of open space often means mowed areas. These are not making the best use of the land to combat climate change, encourage or protect wildlife nor is it as stimulating in terms of the wellbeing of local peoples living in the area. The flavonoids given off by plant, tree and fungi species in a thriving woodland habitat are scientifically proven to have a positive impact on emotional wellbeing of humans. Monocultures like ‘green spaces’ do not provide this.

My proposal is this:

Chunks of land of this size will not be more available in the future. There is already a healthy diverse wildlife population living in a biodiverse habitat. There is scope to support the existing populations to thrive whilst also providing a home and sanctuary for other displaced wildlife populations from other parts of Colchester. Use this land as the wildlife corridor it currently is (between the cemetery, Friday woods, Fingringhoe ranges and the fields leading to Mersea) and allow it to flourish so that it can help combat climate change and protect wildlife (including those already vulnerable to extinction like the stag beetle, hedgehog, cuckoo as well as native snakes and lizards) and plant-life populations (like the mature oak trees and gorse land).

Rewild much of this land as a sponge to soak up more water from the local area.
Sell carbon credits to pay for the trees and management staff
Link up with charities and the MOD to create a wellbeing centre on the site to help MOD staff recover and reintegrate with local populations and involve MOD and Mind volunteers in social prescribing focusing on the rewilding and management of the site.
Use this site as an education centre for the growing eco careers sector.

I would genuinely love to be a part of this project and would happily dedicate the rest of my life to developing this site to be a hub of sustainability and nature. Please don’t waste it on a housing estate, its too important as it is and should be helped to thrive. There can be money made from this venture.