Local Plan - Preferred Options Consultation Document (Reg18)

VISION Comment

In 2042, the Tendring District will be a vibrant, healthy and attractive place to live, work and visit. It will have a thriving, resilient and prosperous economy that promotes sustainable economic growth, making sustainable use of its natural and historic environments, maritime connections and popularity as a visitor destination.

The District’s residents will be able to enjoy a safe and healthy quality of life in communities that offer a range of high-quality new housing that meets local needs, with job opportunities across a variety of employment sectors and other important services and facilities, including modern health, education, police, fire and rescue, ambulance service and retail/leisure provision. Residents and visitors will be able to enjoy a variety of landscapes including a tidy coast, the open countryside with its elements of natural beauty, a diverse range of attractive historic settlements, landscapes and green and blue infrastructure assets, and an integrated and expanding network of protected wildlife-rich areas which are conserved and enhanced and provide opportunities for the community to be physically active. The District will be home to and welcome people of all ages, abilities and genders, providing a range of activities, attractions and facilities that will appeal to the retired, the young and residents of working ages; and will also provide for the specialist needs of all people ensuring, in particular, that children and young people have the knowledge and skills for a good start in life.

Tendring District’s coastal area places economic, social and environmental considerations at the forefront of climate change and therefore there will be a need for adaptation and mitigation against climate change at the centre of sustainable development.

Seaside Towns

Clacton-on-Sea will have established itself as the place everyone wants to live, and the economy will have seen a significant resurgence with new job opportunities; particularly in the business, retail, leisure, hospitality and health sectors. This growth will have been driven, in part, by the rejuvenation of the town’s attractive and safe beaches and multi-million-pound private investment in its seafront attractions, alongside public investment of Levelling Up funding in redeveloping the town centre’s library and civic area. The town will have seen the emergence of a variety of attractive shops, restaurants and cafes and leisure facilities, as well as the creation of new country parks, urban greening, the modernisation of premises across its business and industrial parks and the construction of hundreds of new high-quality, energy efficient, accessible and spacious houses, bungalows and retirement complexes. The people of Clacton and the wider area will have access to modern health facilities including the Diagnostic Centre at Clacton Hospital.

Clacton will have preserved and enhanced its heritage features and maintained its tourism roots, building a thriving local tourism industry. But as well as attracting holiday makers, the town will provide a range of activities and attractions that older residents can enjoy with their children and grandchildren at the weekends and during the school holidays, and a strong evening economy where people from the town and surrounding areas will come for a fun and relaxing evening with their friends and colleagues in some of the town’s new and trendy restaurants, nightclubs and entertainment venues.

In Jaywick Sands, regeneration projects will continue to raise the standard of living in this part of Clacton – building on the success of the Sunspot Workspace Scheme, renewed sea defences, improved housing conditions and the delivery of other projects in the Jaywick Sands Place Plan. The people of Jaywick Sands will be able to enjoy a sustainable community with associated economic, community and employment opportunities.

Frinton-on-Sea and Walton-on-the-Naze will enjoy year-round prosperity whilst retaining their very distinctive individual characteristics. Walton will have seen the biggest change following an injection of new housing, holiday accommodation, shops and leisure attractions bringing vitality to the town centre and core visitor areas, with improved medical facilities serving the resident population. Frinton will have also seen some new homes and improvements to public spaces whilst continuing to deliver a unique and independent shopping and leisure offer to its residents and its visitors. Both settlements will have succeeded in preserving and enhancing their special historic character.

Harwich, Freeport East and the A120 Corridor

The Harwich area will have experienced an economic resurgence following the designation of Harwich Port and other sites along the A120 corridor as part of ‘Freeport East’ (alongside Felixstowe Port and Gateway 14 in Suffolk). The tax, customs and other business incentives offered by Freeport status will have resulted in considerable private investment and new jobs for local people in industrial activities, logistics and emerging green energy sectors with new developments at Bathside Bay, Horsley Cross and other sites with good access to the A120 and the local population. Bathside Bay will be playing a critical role in the medium term, servicing the expansion, construction and maintenance of offshore wind farms with more jobs to come in the long-term through the construction and completion of a new container terminal and associated small boat harbour.

The increase in work opportunities will have generated a significant demand for training facilities and new homes in the Harwich and Dovercourt area particularly for working people and families both in the local area and moving in from elsewhere. This boost in demand in the housing market will have resulted in a number of high-quality housing developments. The Old Town of Harwich will offer new leisure activities and visitor attractions associated with its maritime history. Dovercourt Town Centre and seafront will have also improved its offer of a year-round shopping and leisure experience following significant public investment through the Levelling-Up Fund in its public spaces and improved connections. These benefits will have taken place whilst continuing to preserve and enhance the town’s maritime heritage through careful consideration of its associated buildings, structures and coastal landscapes.

Garden Villages

In order to meet the needs of a growing population, new strategically located and comprehensively planned Garden Village developments will be developed at Hare Green, Horsley Cross and Weeley in accordance with detailed masterplanning and site-specific planning policies.

Our Garden Villages will provide necessary infrastructure and services, enabling residents to meet their day to day needs locally with active and sustainable travel modes prioritised, reducing reliance on car travel. Designed to the highest standards, these villages will embody best practices in urban design and place-making, setting a benchmark for future developments in Tendring.

These exemplar communities will not only provide high-quality housing but also foster a sense of community and well-being, with green spaces, recreational facilities, and community infrastructure. By integrating innovative and sustainable design, our Garden Villages will create thriving, resilient communities that enhance the quality of life for all residents.

Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community

The neighbouring City of Colchester will have been the focus for significant growth in jobs and housing and will have continued to develop a thriving economy that will benefit Tendring District’s residents, many of whom commute into the town each day for work. A new Garden Community will be developed to the east of Colchester, developed in accordance with a detailed Development Plan Document (DPD) and positive collaborative working with Colchester City Council, Essex County Council and the lead developers, which takes advantage of its strategic position in relation to Colchester and its proximity to the university to maximise the economic benefits to current and future residents of Tendring. The Garden Community will provide necessary infrastructure and facilities and a high-quality of built and urban design, taking a landscape-led approach. With major investment in rapid transit services to the town centre, pedestrian and cycle connections and a new link road between the A120 and A133, the management of traffic congestion will have improved, along with provision of upgraded broadband infrastructure and services.

The University of Essex will be one of the leading research and development facilities in the country and, as a result, businesses will have moved to the area to benefit from its expertise and improved transport links. The new Garden Community crossing the Colchester City and Tendring District boundary will be a much sought-after place to live. It will provide the right balance of jobs, housing and infrastructure in the right locations and will attract residents and businesses who value innovation, community cohesion and a high-quality environment, and who will be provided with opportunities to take an active role in managing the community to ensure its continuing success.

Residents will live in high-quality and innovatively designed homes, which accommodate a variety of needs and aspirations and are located in well-designed neighbourhoods where they can meet their day-to-day needs. There will be a network of tree-lined streets and green spaces with an integrated network of active travel routes, incorporating and enhancing existing landscape features and also accommodating safe and attractive routes and space for sustainable drainage solutions; and leisure and recreation opportunities for both residents and visitors of the garden community.

Suitable models for the long-term stewardship of community assets will be established and funded to provide long term management and governance of assets. All Garden City principles as specified in the North Essex Garden Communities Charter will be positively embraced including where appropriate, new approaches to delivery and partnership working for the benefit of the new community. Central to this will be the comprehensive planning and development of the garden community, and the aligned delivery of homes and supporting infrastructure.

Rural Heartland

In the District’s substantial rural heartland, the smaller towns of Manningtree, Lawford, Mistley and Brightlingsea, along with some of the larger villages, will have seen varying levels of new housing and employment development that have helped to support local shops and services, address local issues, provide for local needs and facilitate investment by local businesses in job opportunities. In some of the District’s more remote villages, hamlets and other rural communities a flexible approach to small-scale housing development has helped keep those communities vibrant. Improvements to the telecommunications network and internet broadband services have given these areas a new lease of life with more people able to work, shop and learn from the comfort of their own home.

An increasing number of communities will be developing their own Neighbourhood Plans and promoting community-led development as a means of bringing about positive changes and meeting specific needs and aspirations of local people and businesses.

Throughout the District’s countryside and farming communities, a diverse variety of employment and leisure opportunities will have grown up in support of the rural economy and achieving. significant investment in securing the long-term custodianship of the environment. Many parts of the District will have witnessed the creation of diverse wildlife habitats that expand upon and enhance Tendring’s intrinsic network of green infrastructure and attractive natural landscapes. Growth in ecology over the District will have not only helped support the diversification of the rural economy but will have made a critical and meaningful contribution in mitigating and adapting to climate change along with the delivery of ambitious targets for biodiversity net gain.

Any new development will need to obtain the following outcomes:

1. Creating the right balance of jobs, housing and infrastructure;
2. Ensuring that development is sustainable in terms of location, use and form;
3. Balancing the development needs of the District with the protection and enhancement of the natural, historic and built environment;
4. Excellent services and facilities easily accessed by local communities and businesses;
5. More walkable places and an excellent choice of active and sustainable ways to travel;
6. Vibrant, well-designed, well-connected town and productive countryside;
7. Avoid, then mitigate, and, as a last resort, compensate for adverse impacts of development on the built, historic and natural environment to achieve a net gain in biodiversity and contributing to local nature recovery, protecting and enhancing the natural environment while capitalising on these features;
8. Stronger, more self-reliant town and countryside with thriving centres;
9. Enhanced and inclusive quality of life for all residents;
10. Working with partners and residents to develop a place where people really matter;
11. All new developments should reduce the causes of, adapt to and mitigate against climate change.