10.6 Do you have any other issues/comments

No

Southend put a contract in place to deliver renewable energies to all properties across the district at manageable costs or interest free loans.

All new buildings should be carbon neutral or have to offset the carbon emissions for the life of the building.

Ensure businesses located in the borough are signed up to an environmental policy, focused on eradicating single use plastics and recycling.

We are pleased to note the council have set out a chapter relating explicitly to climate change at this early stage. We would like to re-emphasise the importance of water efficiency standards in new developments, as highlighted in our response to question 8.5, and hope the council will seek to explicitly include a policy that will promote the use of technologies to reduce water consumption.

Spatial Development
Option 3 is the preferred solution for spatial development. Densifying areas can lead to the use of mechanical ventilation systems to protect residents from noise, rather than the ability for residents to control their own environment. This approach allows for the building of mixed housing types to meet different needs, sustainable developments and in the required infrastructure to support additional housing.

Housing
Where permitted development of office blocks, plus conversions and extensions are being built the opportunity should be taken to having design criteria which will mitigate ventilation issues and noise transmission.

With respect to Contaminated Land the Council’s contaminated land strategy will seek to set out how the Council will identify contaminated land in the borough in a rational, ordered and efficient manner. Where contaminated land is identified, the Council is required to ensure that any associated risks to human health and/or to the wider environment are addressed in an appropriate and cost effective manner. It is good practice to undertake investigation of any proposed Local Plan allocations as a priority within this contaminated land investigation strategy. This is to ensure that no development gives rise to or triggers unacceptable levels of pollution and land instability that could impact on human health, property and the wider environment including environmental designations. The Council will ensure that consideration is given to adopting environmental best practice measures in all cases.

The presence of contamination may affect or restrict the use of land, but equally development may address the issue for the benefit of the wider community, and bring the land back into beneficial use. The presence of instability in land can also be a major planning issue, and when new development is proposed it will be necessary to ensure that new buildings and their surroundings are safe for future users as well as ensure that their development does not have an effect on the immediate and surrounding area including neighbouring uses. In determining whether land contamination or instability is an issue when assessing a planning application, the Council will have regard to a range of information sources including its database of past industrial and commercial land uses, information provided by developers and third parties, statutory guidance and historic maps. In the case of development, where the use would be particularly vulnerable to contamination evidence should always be required to establish whether there is any concern about contamination which will need to be addressed.

Where the Council supports the redevelopment of the poorest quality employment sites for other uses such as Housing, consideration needs to be given to the environmental impact on residents of all socio-economic groups. See comments above under 2.7 with respect to noise, ventilation and contaminated land.

Improvements may be required to the sewer / drainage capacity for new developments, particularly those around the seafront, including dealing with misconnections. Ensuring the sufficient of sewer / drainage capacity for new developments and targeting and support agencies with responsibility for misconnections will improve the water quality and the objective of promoting Southend as a major resort.

Support the enhancement of tree planning and landscaping to both improve the public realm and providing a greener and cooler community.
Support the improvement of all transport systems serving Southend will help to improve air quality and social mobility. Where improvements to the main A127 and A13 increases the number of lanes consideration will need to be given to mitigation for existing residents and new developments to reduce the impact of noise and vibration and reduced air quality.

The introduction of Park and Ride Schemes would encourage the use of public transport.
Consideration to be given to green energy solutions, such as energy networks and solar panels to meet the energy needs of new developments, and the retrofitting of existing developments.
Agree that working in partnership will help to deliver the required outcomes, consideration should also be given to increasing the CIL charges, set out in the infrastructure delivery plan that supports local plans.

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