Political Viewpoint for the Leigh-on-Sea News by Cllr Stuart Allen.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the tens of thousands of new homes being pushed onto Southend by central government – top-down, with little regard for local voices.
From the Salvation Army land in the west to Bournes Green in the east, our city is facing a tidal wave of urban sprawl. Our infrastructure is under pressure, and the green spaces that make Southend special are under threat.
We do need more homes; people are living longer, and we need working-age people to keep our society going and to start families. But those homes must be built in the right places — and at the right price.
For too long, we’ve seen overpriced executive estates dumped on greenfield land, with barely a thought for schools, GP surgeries, bus routes or water. Generic, car-focused, cut-and-paste houses that could be anywhere, and often don’t reflect Southend’s character or needs.
However, across the country over a million homes already have planning permission and haven’t been built. Another million are sitting empty. Yet developers still demand more land. They’re hoarding it, inflating their balance sheets, not building homes.
We should be building on brownfield sites near existing public transport infrastructure, creating homes that reflect our local identity. Just look at places like Cliff Town, mansion blocks, family homes, proper parks and tree-lined streets. Thoughtful, people-focused design that builds communities, not just postcodes.
Recently the Labour government announced plans to water down environmental protections further, weakening biodiversity net-gain rules that help our ecosystems. Simple steps like requiring swift boxes on new homes could be dropped. They’re even reclassifying parts of the green belt as ‘grey belt’ to make them easier to concrete over.
There is nothing “green” about building over high-quality farmland. These spaces could be rewilded or restored to produce food; something we’ll need more than ever as climate change affects harvests across Europe. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Adding to the housing crisis, council housing has been neglected since the 1980s and we’re now living with the consequences; sky high mortgages making homes more unaffordable for all but the wealthiest, forcing families to work more hours. Developers were supposed to pick up the slack with so-called ‘affordable’ housing, but time and again they try to wriggle out of their commitments, claiming they’re “unviable.” Only recently, the developer now being lined up to build at Bournes Green tried to slash its social housing commitment from 30% to 15%. I sat on that planning committee, and I was proud to vote against it. But it shows how broken the system is.
The council needs to step up. We need to build high-quality council homes ourselves, not buy up homes squeezed onto unsuitable plots, beside noisy roads or under flight paths. The private sector can’t fill this gap. We need proper national funding for a new generation of social housing.
And we must fix the spread of HMOs. Family homes are being converted into shared housing without proper planning, piling pressure on local services and removing the types of houses we are short of. Some HMOs are well-designed, but others are clearly gaming the system. Right now, anyone can convert a house into an HMO without planning permission, unless it’s for more than five people. That needs to change. We’re pushing to strike a better balance.
Roads and rail are at a tipping point; building more roads won’t solve the problems, it’ll make things much worse. We need bold thinking: better buses, safe cycle lanes, and fewer short car journeys. Let’s make it easier, cheaper and safer to get around without the need for cars. As Enrique Peñalosa said, “a developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It’s where the rich use public transportation.”
And we must bring jobs back to central Southend – especially green jobs. The green sector is growing three times faster than the wider economy. We’ve got the talent: in design, manufacturing and engineering. What we need now is the investment to unlock that potential and stop treating Southend as just a commuter town for London.
What we need is a joined-up plan – for homes, nature, and jobs. Only the Greens are offering that. We’re the only party putting communities and climate before developers and short-term profits.
The upcoming Local Plan is the one opportunity to have our say to try to secure and protect our valuable spaces, so I encourage each and everyone of you to get involved. This is your city. Make your voice heard.