 Tuesday 6th October 
 1:30pm – 2:30pm 
Feering Community CentreÂ
Feering Parish Council
PLANNING WORKING GROUP AGENDA
- DISCUSSION OF THE FOLLOWING APPLICATIONS
- Colchester Submission Draft Local Plan and Sustainability Appraisal Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
- 26/00204/REM – Land North of London Road, Kelvedon Reconsultation following revised plans and additional information.
- Braintree District Council Local Plan – Regulation 19 Consultation To consider FPC’s response to the Local Plan
- UPDATE ON APPLICATIONS APPROVED / REFUSED
- DATE OF NEXT MEETING (pending applications)
Feering Parish Council
1. Discussion of the Following Applications
a) Colchester Submission Draft Local Plan and Sustainability Appraisal
Regulation 19 of the Town and Country Planning (Local Planning) (England) Regulations 2012
Comments by Councillors: Interest that they have had to find fewer houses than Braintree – maybe they have been building more. They have got to find 13,000 roughly, of which 720 in Tiptree plus what they are already building at the moment. The site Land North of Oak Road they have already got sites either side of it has been approved or in a local plan. Highlands Nursery, there is an application in there for 220 homes.
Insufficient information about infrastructure. All of the Tiptree homes along with the Marks Tey homes are adding pressure to local services, road, schools etc. Water is desperately short in this area and sewage capacity and early developments needing to put in temporary arrangements.
Commented previously about concerns of traffic coming through Kelvedon & Feering for the A12. It is not clear in the Land North of Oak Road policy that it must secure the delivery of the Northern Link Road between Colchester Road to Kelvedon Road which will not stop traffic coming through Kelvedon & Feering. It will just bypass the centre of Tiptree.
Having reviewed ST7 we could not see anything about traffic in and around Tiptree. So definitely need to comment our great concern about the developments in Tiptree and how they are going to access the A12, particularly those north of the Maldon Road cross roads. Repeat comments about the development in Tiptree the effect it is going to have on traffic coming up Inworth road to A12 through Kelvedon and Feering with no mitigation proposed and the narrow Hinds bridge.
Distressed that there is no recognition that this extra housing and employment would cause on the Inworth Road Junction and Feering and Kelvedon with no mitigation proposed.
A12 is already over capacity at peak times, which have been extended from the habitually quoted 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the evening, with the widening and junction improvement scheme having been scrapped it is felt that no further development should take place until this has been rectified.
Marks Tey – proposing to turn roundabout in the traffic light cross roads presumably so that there is extra capacity. Is the slip road off A12 northbound junction 25 long enough to potentially accommodate for queuing traffic at the proposed crossroads?
Extra 2,500 homes and extra employment land is going to make traffic even worse. 1,000 homes north of the A120 by the station will create even more traffic leaving the current junction. 18 hectares of employment land inside of Marks Tey strategic Growth Location. Concerned again.
Delegated response: Feering Parish Council object to this plan on the grounds that it is not sound. In particular, the Council considers that the plan is not positively prepared, justified, effective or consistent with national policy, as required by the National Planning Policy Framework, which expects plan-making to be genuinely plan-led and supported by up-to date evidence, including infrastructure provision.
Tiptree allocation: Table ST5.2 proposed the allocation of a further 720 homes in Tiptree, in addition to the already approved development, together with the 1.1 ha (PEP7), 4.7ha (PEP8) and 0.5ha (PEP16) of employment land. However, the plan does not provide sufficient detail to demonstrate that the necessary transport, utilities and other supporting infrastructure can be delivered in step with this level of growth. The NPPF requires plans to make effective use of land while safeguarding safe and healthy living conditions, and to be supported by the infrastructure needed to serve development.
Feering Parish Council has repeatedly raised concern that there is inadequate evidence on traffic impacts associated with these allocations, particularly in relation to access to the A12. The likely routeing of traffic via Inworth Road would place additional pressure on Feering and Kelvedon, including the narrow Hinds Bridge, yet the plan appears to contain no specific mitigation. In the Council’s view, this is inconsistent with the infrastructure-led approach expected by policy ST7 and the NPPF.
The additional housing and employment land will also intensify demand for water and foul drainage. Feering Parish Council remains concerned that the plan does not demonstrate that these constraints can be resolved before development comes forward. A sound plan should show that development is deliverable and supported by essential infrastructure.
Marks Tey Allocation: Table ST5.2 proposes 2,500 homes in the Marks Tey Growth Area, together with approximately 18 ha (OA5) and 3.2 ha (PEP6) of employment land. The Council objects to these allocations because the plan does not sufficiently demonstrate that the cumulative traffic impacts on the A12 and A120 can be accommodated. Both routes are already heavily congested at peak periods, and the proposed scale of growth would exacerbate existing problems.
The proposed change from the roundabout at the A12 northbound Junction 25 off-slip to a signalised crossroads also raises serious concerns about whether the slip road is of adequate length to accommodate queuing traffic safely at peak times. The plan does not provide enough detail to answer this question or to show that the highway impacts would be properly mitigated.
Infrastructure Delivery and Impact Mitigation: Feering Parish Council is particularly concerned that the A12 is already operating beyond capacity and that no effective mitigation is being brought forward to address this. In the absence of a clear, funded and deliverable infrastructure strategy, the plan fails to meet the requirement in the NPPF for development plans to be supported by the infrastructure needed to make development acceptable in planning terms.
The Council notes the cancellation of the A12 widening and junction improvement scheme DCO funding and considers that, without an equivalent replacement strategy, further major growth should not be planned for or approved until the necessary transport infrastructure is secured. On that basis, Feering Parish Council considers the plan unsound.
b) 26/00204/REM – Land North of London Road, Kelvedon
Reconsultation following revised plans and additional information.
Comments by Councillors: This relates to the Early Years facility and in particular the water waste. Replying to ECC’s concerns. They have added EV charging spaces in the staff car park and new lighting design which is less intrusive. No comment on this re-consultation.
Delegated response: Feering Parish Council have no comment to make on this re-consultation.
c) Braintree District Council Local Plan – Regulation 19 Consultation
To consider FPC’s response to the Local Plan
Comments by Councillors: Housing and transport – paragraphs LPR 18 strategic growth locations requires master plans and planning applications to 2(ii) create transport systems. There is no indication of how these would be created or details of what is required of them to do this. LPR Paragraph 18 B (5)(v) says strategic growth locations will positively integrate with communities. 5000 homes cannot integrate with the local community which is much smaller. Impossible given the disparity in number of homes. LPR 18(D) states deliver of infrastructure on strategic grow locations will be phased to ensure they are in place when needed. Current proposals do not even suggest sustainable road improvements let alone timely delivery.
Do not support the plan as it stands and there are serious failings.
Crown Estates paragraph 4111 – appropriate access to the A12 is a Requirement. Without considerable improvements there is not appropriate access either at Feering or Kelvedon.
LPR26C – Kingsdene – “providing . . . a new road to connect to the A12” it states it must be done. Must be done first or at least early.
LPR26N – Appropriate green buffer to prevent settlement coalescence – insufficient with little more than a field width between Kelvedon and Rivenhall and no distance between north of the site and Coggeshall and Kelvedon.
Para 4.209 – improvements to the A12 still needed. Insufficient information needed.
Para 4.210 – safeguarding the A12 – A120 corridor – pleased to see that they are safeguarding the corridor.
LPR 81 – Development will only be granted if it can be demonstrated if there is sufficient appropriate … – argue that there is insufficient evidence that this is the case, particularly for Kings Dene. Cannot be appropriate if it cannot manage capacity. A lot of statements that proposals will do.
Delegated response: It was agreed to defer a formal response until after all consultations have taken place.
2. Update on Applications Approved / Refused
Applications Approved:
- 26/01661/HH – Bridge Barn, Coggeshall Road, Feering
Date of Next Meeting
28 October 2026 at 10.00 am. All Councillors to be invited to discuss the BDC Local Plan FPC response.
