Living Closer Together - Neighbourhood Plan

Neighbourhood Plan June 2018

Contents

History to the Present Day ................................................................................................ 5 Site Location 7: The Future? ............................................................................................. 35 An Alternative Vision for 1000 New Homes ................................................................... 41 'Spare' Space: A Community-Led Approach to the Housing Crisis ................................ 51 A Renewed South Woodham Ferrers: A Densified Masterplan ...................................... 65

About This Document

Neighbourhood Plans were introduced in the Localism Act of 2011. They allow communities to develop plans for where they want development to happen and place certain restrictions or aspirations upon those developments. They carry the same statutory weight as Local Plans.

As part of my fieldwork I was a member of the South Woodham Ferrers Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group. Made up of a panel of residents and Town Councillors, this group coordinated the early stages of the Neighbourhood Plan process, including a series of Visioning Events in August 2018 and the drafting of a questionnaire, before the Town Council voted to postpone the process for a year in November 2017.

The main stumbling block of the South Woodham Ferrers Neighbourhood Plan was it's coincidence with the Chelmsford Local Plan, as residents found the two consultation and planning processes running alongside very difficult to navigate.

Site Location 7, the Local Plan's strategic growth site for at least 1000 more homes to the north of the town, meant that the community did not have the opportunity to choose where they would like to site development, as the Neighbourhood Plan cannot contradict the Local Plan.

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HISTORY TO THE PRESENT DAY THE CONTEXT

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The Town 2

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Though not physically dependent on an urban area the town can be defined as suburban through its dominantly residential character, which results both on a distinctly suburban character as you walk the streets and an economic reliance on nearby cities, in particular Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea.

South Woodham Ferrers is a small Essex town of around 16,500 residents and 6000 homes. The town was expanded to its current size between 1979-85 by Essex County Council. Taking advantage of Circular 102/72 ‘Land Availability for Housing’, which brought about an £80m loan sanction available to local authorities to enable them to bring land forward for private house building purposes, the county council developed the scheme in partnership with a large number of private developers, resulting in a notably coherent feel to the town. The aesthetics of the new homes and town centre was the first major test ground of Essex County Council's 1973 Design Guide for Residential Areas, which presented a 'county style' based on an interpretation of historic Essex. The resulting 'toy-town' is at once pleasingly nostalgic, whilst also disconcerting and somewhat tacky.

As part of the proposals being brought forward under Chelmsford City Council's Local Plan, a new housing estate of minimum 1000 homes is proposed to the north of the town.

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Mapping the town's landmarks County map highlighting South Woodham Ferrers as a suitable site for a new expanded settlement.

Print adverts for the town, 1980s Advert for the town at Liverpool Street Station, 1980s

The Lo 1

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South Woodham Ferrers is situated on the River Crouch in central Essex, in the far south-east of the city council area of Chelmsford, in which it is the second biggest settlement after the city itself.

However, located on the branch line between Wickford and Southmister and with weak public transport links to the city, it has much stronger links to South Essex; areas such as Basildon, Southend and Wickford, and through to London.

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Locating the county of Essex Locating the City of Chelmsford borough Locating South Woodham Ferrers Parish Locating the town of South Woodham Ferrers

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The History of the T 1

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Town's Development South Woodham Ferrers originated as a collection of farms. During the agricultural depression of the early 20th century, Champions Manor and Eyotts Farms both joined the regional trend of transforming fallow fields into plots, which were sold as holiday homes particularly to the East End poor of London, in this instance enabled by the Crouch Valley branch line which was completed in 1889, visible from the second map. Development on this model continued slowly, around the main high street of Hullbridge Road, until in the 1970s the village, population then 900, was chosen as the site of a new settlement by Essex County Council. The 1970s and 1980s saw the rapid construction of the town we know today, with very little change since. Now, Chelmsford City Council are proposing a significant expansion to the town on the fields north of the B1012.

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1 1880s 2 1890s 3 1920s 4 1960s 5 1970s 6 1980s 7 2010s 8 Proposed

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South Woodham Ferrers Plotlands Village The town's resident historian, town planner John Frankland who worked for Essex County Council on the town, calls the original plotlands settlement the first utopia of South Woodham Ferrers. Almost none of this original settlement remains, partly due to the ramshackle nature of such constructions. This history leaves a legacy of making homes accessible to those who never dreamt of owning their own: a legacy worth revisiting in this next chapter of the town.

1-4 Archive photos of the plotlands village, courtesy of John Frankland 5 Auction catalogue for plots at Eyotts Farm, in the early

years of the plotlands village's emergence 6 & 7 Own photos of 1970s houses in the town, ''bad suburbia'

according to the 1973 Essex Design Guide 8 OS Map of the town, 1973 9 Mapping the years in which different buildings in the town

were built. Data collected from OS Historic Maps.

1920s 1960s 1970s 1980s Contemporary

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The Town's Expansion The expanded town enveloped the established plotlands town and was carefully separated into a catalogue of plots, which was accompanied by detailed design briefs by the county council.

A large number of developers, both large and small, were involved: the cohesive character of the town is testament to the extent of the design control wielded by the council, in part through the 1973 Essex Design Guide, of which the town was the inaugural exhibition project.

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Developers of the town's expansion (key below) Photos of the town during its construction Newspaper headlines from the time of the town's proposition South Woodham Ferrers Comprehensive Development Area, Essex County Council, late 1960s

Existing village Town centre School Industrial estate Developer: Plots Reason Homes: 11 Broseley Homes: 9 Self-Build: 8 Bovis Homes: 7 Goldings: 6 Hey & Croft: 6 D L & P Luck: 5 Collings/Halrod: 3 M & A Builders: 3 M & A Builders / Chelmsford Developments: 3 Peter Howard: 3

Trio Homes: 3 Wimpey Homes: 3 Bellway: 2 Chelmsford Developments: 2 Comben Homes: 2 Construction: 2 Countryside Properties: 2 George Martin: 2 The Rollings Ltd: 2 A R Giles: 1 Abbey Homes: 1 Collings / Ferrers Homes: 1 David Reed Homes: 1 E J Taylor: 1 Halrod: 1

Hammond & Miles: 1 Hiltmay Ltd: 1 Ideal Homes: 1 Leach Homes: 1 Lovell Homes: 1 Matthew Homes: 1 McLaughlin & Harvey: 1 Mrs Kemble: 1 R Thomason: 1 Red Fox Developments: 1 Strongworld: 1 Tarmac Homes: 1 Wimpey/ Hanover: 1

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The Town's Expansion The Essex Design Guide of 1973 informed a comprehensive set of design briefs, developed by the County Council Planning Team, for each and every development parcel. These briefs set out details from suggested layouts to planting in almost exhaustive detail, in an effort to ensure quality.

1 A Design Guide for Residential Areas, Essex County Council, 1973 2 A sketch from the Essex County Council Design Brief for the

town centre 3 Visualisation from the Essex Design Guide 4 Indicative Layout from Design Brief for Development Parcels A-J 5 Plot Divisions of Phase Two Central Housing Area, Feb. 1983 6-14 Own photos of the expanded town

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Analysing 1

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Commensurate with the careful top-down planning of the town, the town's suburban fabric has very little leftover space.

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The overall built up area of South Woodham Ferrers is 3464.5km². 1998.7km², 57.7%, of this is made up of residential plots, which includes 471.7km², 13.6%, of houses and flats and 69km², 2%, of garages. 697.3km², 20.1%, is nonresidential buildings and the surrounding public spaces, including school playing fields and Asda's substantial car park. A further 346.8km², 10%, of this is roads, which leaves 421.7km², 12.2%, made up of pathways and landscaped green pockets.

The lack of clear plots for development supports the proposals for reconsidering the approach we take to residential plots, if the 1000+ homes are to be provided within the town extent.

1 The town's built extent 2 Residential plots 3 Houses 4 Garages 5 Non-residential plots 6 Roads 7 'Pockets' created by leftover space

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Residential

The town is almost overwhelmingly residential.

This forms the cornerstone of the town's definition as suburban: though it is not physically

subservient to a neighbouring urban area, on a regional level it is economically dependent on the wider region.

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Non-residential

The non-residential areas of the town include the two seemingly successful industrial estates, the town centre, the four primary schools and a

small number of pubs.

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The Tow 1

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An opportunity of reframing the means of development in the town is to refocus the town centre.

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One of the biggest criticisms raised of the town in the interviews carried out for this project was the town centre. Partly due to the private ownership of the area, which was almost entirely owned by Asda up until 2011, the selection of shops is relatively limited. More than that, it was a repeated story that if a new shop opened, the large Asda anchor store, the first in the 'Tesco country' of the south-east, would start stocking the same goods and price them out, forcing closure. Community financial resources from community-led development has the opportunity to redress this balance.

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Mapping ownership of the town centre (key below) Archive photographs of the town centre William de Ferrers High School & Sixth Form Essex County Council Primary School Highways Asda SW Investments Primary Care Trust Fire and Police Police Private Ownership Fire

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In terms of its suburban fabric, the town was built at a relatively high density, though not as high as contemporary suburban areas.

The extent of the town extends to about 807 acres, including roads, playing fields, industrial areas and the town centre. The town has just over 6000 homes, which works out as 7.4 homes per acre. Excluding roads, playing fields, industrial areas and the town centre results in a density of around 9.4 homes per acre, in comparison to the contemporary target of 12 homes per acre.The map to the left shows the distribution of density across the site.

An alternative mode of analysis is to look at the relationship between house and plot. Across the site, the average house takes up 26.2% of the average plot.

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Mapping the town's density Own photos of the town

Employment: A C 1

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Commuter Town 2

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Employment locations of the respondents to the 19791985 Early Movers Questionnaires carried out by the County Council Commuting journey & time to Braintree Commuting journey & time to Chelmsford Commuting journey & time to London Commuting journey & time to Southend-on-Sea

Why People Moved To The Town

Between 1979 and 1985 the County Council carried out a sample questionnaire of new residents. One question, which I repeated in my interviews on site, was why people moved to the town. Here, seeking to distil a palette of qualities to continue in the redesigned down, the answers are grouped into themes.

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Analysing the questionnaire answers Own photos of the town

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Let's Talk ABout South Woodham Ferrers 1

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As the final hurrah of my fieldwork I hosted an event, in collaboration with DK-CM, entitled Let's Talk About South Woodham Ferrers. This brought together architects, academics and residents to discuss the town, including talks from John Frankland, who was a planner involved in the town's construction, Gillian Darley, Charles Holland and myself.

see the level of interest in the town, the various archive resources that were presented, and the resulting discussion around my research. A particular concern raised by John Frankland was the scope for adding extra burden to the existing services, in particular the sewers!

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It was an incredibly interesting evening, both to 31

The poster I designed for the event Newspaper article where I was interviewed by the Essex County Chronicle Photos of the event by Ed Ponti

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THE FUTURE? 1000 NEW HOMES FOR SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS

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Site Location 7

"It won't be part of the town... it'll be a Middle Woodham Ferrers"

The proposed site occupied the fields to the north of the B1012, including the area known locally as Radar Hill. This area, which lies between the village of Woodham Ferrers and the new town, is exceptionally visible to the town and is also home to a nature reserve.

Amongst the most prominent concerns of the residents about this location for a new estate is the unavoidable separation that the B1012, the main trunk road out to the Dengie Peninsula, will stop the new estate from ever feeling like part of the town.

The new estate is also a long walk from the existing town centre - about 25 minutes. It is feared that this will reinforce the sense of separation between the new estate and the existing town, which residents prize for being 'cohesive'.

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The poster I designed for the event Newspaper article where I was interviewed by the Essex County Chronicle Photos of the event by Ed Ponti

The Con

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Expanding the town is a the small size of the par extent of the existing to also enveloped to the so combination of the Rive (fig. 2, shown dashed) M (fig. 3, light hatch) and Green Belt (fig. 3, light hat is not ideal for developm (fig. 4) and the presence area. This supports the housing stock within the 1 2 3 4

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Comparing the town exte The River Crouch and its c Marsh Farm County Park Topography at 5m increm

nstraints

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a challenge partly due to rish in comparison to the own (fig. 1). The town is outh, east and west by a er Crouch and its creeks Marsh Farm County Park d London's Metropolitan tch). However, North Field ment due to topography e of a protected wildlife concept of growing the e existing town.

ent and parish border creeks and the Metropolitan Green Belt ments

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AN ALTERNATIVE VISION THE CRISIS OF UNDEROCCUPATION

Comparing Household

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d Size to House Size

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House Types in As highlighted on pages 42-43, there is a mismatch across the town between the household sizes and house sizes.

This is a nationwide problem. The majority of housing stock in the UK is family houses of 3 bedrooms, but the marjority of households are single to two person households, a trend that is increasing.

This can be seen locally in how the town's population has shrunk from it's designed 18,000 to just above 16,000 in the 2011 census.

Visualising the town's population shrinkage, the map opposite shows the 700 homes that could be freed up if the town was occupied at it's already very low designed population density of three people per house.

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Comparing household sizes and house sizes Nationwide household distribution Growth of the single person household 700 homes in context

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n Collingwood 3

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House Types in

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n Collingwood Collingwood is one of the more expensive areas of the town, characterised by a large number of detached properties.

This makes it one of the least dense areas in terms of building to plot density. It's also a prime location for upping the density as it is right next to the town centre and its attendant transport links and civic amenities.

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Locating Collingwood

Previous Sales

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in Collingwood Many of the homes have no recorded sale, meaning they're still in the ownership of the original purchasers.

In Collingwood, this area of particularly large homes, this is interesting as it seems safe to assume that most of these homes are lived in by these original purchasers as owner-occupiers, meaning a significant number of spare bedrooms.

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SPARE SPACE A Community Led Approach to the Housing Crisis

Where's S

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Spare?

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Example Ho

The ambition of Living Closer Together is to achieve a greater density primarily through making use of the 'spare' space within the existing homes.

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ouse Plans

These sample house plans clearly show the large sizes of the existing homes. Many have more than one reception rooms. Dining rooms, which are swiftly losing contemporary popularity and becoming outdated, are present in each and every home. Built-in garages, and large detached garages, are also prominent, which could be made available for more dwellings with the provision of better public transport.

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Spare Spac Spare Space is identified on site by residents and added to a neighbourhood-wide database of potential space for new homes.

This database would be accessible and editable online as a community-based tool for mobilising, as well as controlling and observing the consequent developments.

House: Spare room

House: Semi-detached opportunity

House: Spare detached structure

Plot: Enclosed

Plot: Unused pocket

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ce Criteria

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Example Spar 1

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re Space Map Here is an example of the Spare Space Criteria used to assess a group of plots on an island site between Cornwallis Drive and Creekview Road.

Here a number of plots have been identified who have submitted 'spare' space to the database. The scheme works towards enabling homeowners to work together to provide new homes. In this instance these homeowners can now move forward and work together to develop new dwellings that make use of the 'spare' space identified here.

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1:500 Site Plan Site boundary

House: Spare room

House: Semi-detached opportunity

House: Spare detached structure

Plot: Enclosed

Plot: Unused pocket

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Using Spa

The new homes should complement, the existing streetscape, not overshadow the existing homes.

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are Space

In order to protect the character of our town, the Town Council supports the City Council proposals to limit the location of new units. The Town Council policy proposes that developments are permissible if they are: - Extensions or extrusions located either

behind, above or between existing dwellings.

- New constructions must be located within

an island site, i.e. an area enclosed by

existing dwellings.

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A RENEWED SOUTH WOODHAM FERRERS A DENSIFIED MASTERPLAN

SWF2021 Visioning Events As part of the process of developing the Visions and Objectives element of the Neighbourhood Plan, we were encouraged by the organisation Locality to carry out a series of Visioning events, in which town residents were encouraged to present their views about the town. This was intended to provide a base to the development of policies within the plan.

Besides the amusing level of contradictions, and the constant call for a new police station despite the town having one of the lowest crime rates in Essex, the most interesting response was how many residents expressed support for new homes in the town - though the attitude to the proposed site was more mixed.

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SWF Questionnaire Following the Visioning Events, it was recommended that we continue developing the Visions and Objectives through a public questionnaire. Again, the aim of this was to make sure that at each stage the work of the steering group was thoroughly grounded and representative of the town as a whole.

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Unfortunately the Neighbourhood Plan was suspended pending annual review before the questionnaire could be distributed.

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Draft cover for the questionnaire pamphlet Sample questions from the final draft of the questionnaire

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Existing Town

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Proposed Town Masterplan

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