- The Green Party opposes plans to build 10,000 homes on Bournes Green, a green site with valuable agricultural land.
- New housing should be built on brownfield sites, near public transport and essential services – not at the cost of green space.
- With over 1 million empty homes and climate change threatening food security, protecting land like Bournes Green is more important than ever.
The Green Party in Southend has spoken out firmly against proposals to build on Bournes Green and surrounding green spaces, warning that the plans threaten both the environment and the character of local communities.
The proposals, which would see up to 10,000 homes built on land classed as ‘very good quality’, have been criticised for encouraging urban sprawl and risking the merger of Southend with neighbouring Rochford into a single, sprawling mega-city.
Green Party Councillor, Richard Longstaff said:
“We absolutely recognise the need for new housing, but it must be in the right place. Building over what should be productive agricultural land and precious green spaces is not the answer. There are over one million empty homes across the country and another million plots with planning permission already granted. We should be putting that land and those homes to use first.”
The Party is calling for housing developments to prioritise brownfield sites close to existing public transport links, and to be planned alongside vital services such as shops, cafés, doctors’ surgeries and schools – rather than simply sprawling into open countryside without adequate provisions.
Bournes Green, the Greens argue, offers far more value to the community and future generations as protected agricultural land and open space, particularly as climate change threatens food security.
“Local food production will become increasingly critical. Concreting over land like Bournes Green undermines our ability to feed ourselves in the future,” Cllr Stuart Allen added.
The Green Party is urging Southend residents to oppose the proposals and support a smarter, more sustainable approach to housing and community planning.
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Bournes Green in Southend-on-Sea is classified as Grade 2 agricultural land, indicating it is of very good quality and suitable for a wide range of crops. This classification is based on a detailed Agricultural Land Classification (ALC) survey conducted by Natural England, which assessed approximately 78.3 hectares of land at Bournes Green. The survey found that the area is predominantly in arable agricultural use, with the majority of the land under winter cereals at the time of assessment.