Castle Point Draft Local Plan – Success or Failure?

Castle Point have today released their Draft Local Plan for up to the year 2043. Their proposal is now the fourth iteration of a Local Plan which has been in the works since 2014. On three previous occasions, the Draft Local Plan has been rejected due to issues raised by excessive development in the Green Belt. This new local plan removes all that proposed development, but is that a good thing?

To preface this blog, I want to first say that preparing a Local Plan is an unenviable task by CPBC. Every potential option for development will be scrutinized and assessed by the residents of the borough. Development of any area will raise objections by locals for one element or another.

As a professional in the planning industry, the success of the Local Plan has a direct impact upon me and my business. Although, I also understand that housing is of the utmost importance for the borough and thus development must occur in some way. I have a great working relationship with the Local Planning Authority, and I do consider them to be the best Planning/Building Control authority I work with. I typically agree with many of the policies CPBC have, however with this Draft Local Plan I must raise some serious concerns.

I am also someone that grew up on Canvey Island. I attended Castle View School and then worked within Canvey for the past 16 years. When I begun my business in 2024, Canvey Island was always an area that I considered locating that, now taking residence in International House Business Centre at Charfleets.

Despite moving off Canvey Island personally, I have always had a strong connection here with family and work, that connection is what is leading me to return to Canvey to live later this year. That connection is also what leads me to want to talk and engage in the continued growth and improvement of Canvey Island and the Castle Point Borough as a whole.

So, what’s my initial view of the Draft Local Plan?

The number of dwellings suggested from the outset look great in supporting much needed housing within the area. 6,196 new homes to support the growth of the local housing market which is needed. This is still approximately 50% short of the governments suggested target however I do believe this is more than in past iterations of the Local Plan.

The removal of Green Belt sites seems to be another plus from the outset, however my opinion is that removal of all the sites is simply not possible for sustainable development. The continued classification of some Green Belt sites also opens opportunities for developers to utilize these sites as “Grey Belt” under the NPPF which would give potential to develop them anyway.

Many of these new homes are going to be placed upon Canvey Island, an area which already has several considerable constraints. The Island should be responsible for its fair share of development; however, the suggested number is simply unsustainable without significant improvements to infrastructure that must include a third road exiting Canvey. This is something that the Local Plan, refuses to include unfortunately.

Let’s look at that impact upon Canvey Island in more detail.

Starting with Policy C1 – Canvey Town Centre, this proposes that a potential of 620 new homes could be constructed within the Town Centre whilst retaining its commercial areas. However, there is little free land availability within the area identified by the Draft Local Plan. This can only mean one thing, an increase in the height of the building to become a more urbanized town.

On the outset, you may think that this seems a reasonable and good use of brownfield development sites. But there appears to be a clear lack of understanding of the practicality of this style of development. Canvey Island has poor soil conditions which means that we must build here on Raft Foundations. However, the soil conditions limit the amount of development that can be achieved, typically 3 storey buildings. There are a couple of slightly taller buildings, but you won’t find anything here on Canvey over 4 stories.

Existing buildings in the area would’ve been constructed with foundations that are only suitable for this number of floors at the most. So, there is simply no way that the existing buildings would be able to accommodate multiple floors of development. And then where do you place all the parking spaces for this additional development if you are going above the existing properties?

The heart of the Town is the Knightswick Centre, a building which is in much needed refurbishment and updating to support the local community. Within the Castle Point Issues and Options document released in 2024, it indicated that this could have potential for 140 homes, which I think is reasonable.

However, the council has just signed an agreement which sees them spend £2million on a refurb, only to then suggest they may need to knock it down to build homes within this local plan! The expenditure of this amount of taxpayer funds raises concerns about the long-term strategies surrounding the development of the town centre.

Moving on to the biggest issue with this Local Plan, Policy C4 – West Canvey. The proposal here includes the entirety of Charfleets Industrial, Morrisons and a field west of Roscommon Way that could be suitable for up to 2,700 new homes, apparently. 2000 of which is going to be allocated within this Local Plan up to the year 2043.

What the plan fails to consider is how this would even be feasible. Charfleets Industrial Estate is the centre of Canvey Island’s employment and commercial industry. So, what is going to happen to the businesses and employment within this area when you are looking to replace large portions of this? How exactly is this even going to be feasible with so many landowners, businesses and other parties that would be affected by development.

Being part of this community on Canvey Island, I like many others would be extremely concerned about the potential impact it will have upon this area and the businesses which support the local economy.

What is even more concerning is that the Local Plan suggests that this housing development should be provided at a density of around 150 dwellings per hectare. To put that in perspective, in Essex the average density is around 65 dwellings per hectare. Here on Canvey Island, it is much less.

Canvey Island has approximately 16,000 homes, in a development area of around 675 ha as you can see from the map below. This includes some of the green spaces, but I’ve removed areas such as Smallgains, Waterside and Charfleets to make it a fair comparison. This provides around 23 dwellings per hectare. What they are proposing on the Charfleets area would increase the density of the area by 7 times what is present on Canvey Island!

Map from https://www.calcmaps.com/

This severe increase in density will change the composition of Canvey Island completely. This will have a dire effect on the character of the Local Area and Canvey Island as a whole, something that a Local Plan should seek to protect.

Lastly, I want to touch upon the infrastructure upon Canvey Island and the impact that this will have upon the local area. Canvey Islands issues typically surrounding Traffic, Drainage and Flooding.

Drainage and Flooding are serious concerns for the residents of Canvey. As someone that has been involved in developing new properties on the island, I do believe that these can be mitigated with good design.  This must be supported, however, with considerably investment by the Local Authority and Drainage Companies, which has been the main issue over the past years.

Traffic is simply something that cannot be mitigated against without a Third Road existing Canvey Island. This is something that the Local Plan fails to provide. The Council’s suggestions for resolving this major issue are to provide some additional cycle routes, pedestrian crossings, changing some junctions and re-routing some bus services. This simply will not change anything, especially if they plan to provide a further 3000 homes, which would provide for around 10000 additional occupants.

It was only this weekend when evidence of this was clear. A major accident occurred on Canvey Road which then prevented access along this route. The delays then meant there was only one route onto the Island which caused heavy congestion for many hours. The suggested alterations simply would not resolve this issue.

I’m yet to even touch upon other community infrastructure that Canvey Island lacks such as Doctors, Dentists and School Places. None of this appears to be considered appropriately within The Local Plan. This is evident where in Policy C4 it suggests that only 56 nursery places and 0.13 hectares of land is provided for primary school provision. This is to support 2000 homes and potentially 6000 people. This is simply inadequate.

I think that the answer to my question about this Local Plan is clear. In my view, the drafted local plan is unsustainable and unviable. I don’t blame the Council on this though, they are attempting to appease everyone by removing the Green Belt Sites. However, the practicalities of providing sustainable development without some of these areas is simply impossible.  

Disclaimer:

The views expressed in this article are my own professional opinions based on available planning documents and personal experience.