I have received the following letters in response to the article in the October issue of the newsletter relating to Billericay School's planning application to develop the school's farm site:-
"Dear Mr. Stansfield,
I have just read your article about the proposed development of Green Belt land in Billericay. Your article presents a very biased opinion in favour of development of the Green Belt land.
Your views do not represent the views of most Billericay residents, especially those who live in 'this part' of Billericay, where I notice you do not reside.
I would like to clarify the following quote from your article -
Does the land now fulfil the objectives and principles of Green Belt designation? In its present condition it presents a financial burden on the school through the need for insurance, maintenance and security and is also a liability because of fly-tipping and vandalism.
As a resident living adjacent to the proposed development, I can firmly assure you that the only vandalism I have seen in the last 5 years has been done by pupils of Billericay School. In addition there is no fly-tipping. The only rubbish being dumped is by the Billericay School itself.
You should correct your false statements in the next edition.
I would also like to inform you that the School do not maintain the land other than a 6 foot boundary next to my land. This is strimmed once a year (no more than 1 hours work) when the weeds grow larger than 6 foot high and intrude over my fence. The strimming is only done due to my repeated requests to the School.
You may also want to declare any interests you have in this land for your views are certainly not impartial."
Dear Mr Stansfield
Thank you for publishing so much information on the planning application. I have sympathies with both sides. What happened to the money from the sale of the Mayflower School playing field? Was it used on projects in Billericay or did it just get absorbed into general educational budgets, in which case there might be an argument to get it back and spend it on the important improvements to Billericay School?
In my experience of over 30 years working in the community and local government the voice of those who oppose a scheme always seem to have the greatest exposure. Go to any planning committee meeting and those who speak in opposition are in the majority no one, except those who submitted the application, speaks in favour. I don't suppose I should be surprised at this since many people do not know of the submission and those that do are not concerned since it is not "in their backyard". Which brings me nicely to the statement "your views do not represent the views of most of the residents in Billericay" this is supposition not fact. There are 45,000 people in Billericay about 33,000 of whom have the right to vote, presumably the writer has sought the opinion of the electorate.
The writer of the second letter shows a much more logical and considered approach to the article I wrote in the October issue of The Resident. Apparently he/she is pleased to be made aware of the issues in favour of development and implies that as a result he has sympathies with both points of view. If this be the case then my article is justified in that information has been made available that will give rise to an informed, unbiased opinion a prerequisite before reaching a conclusion.
If we are to leave a legacy for future generations in my opinion it is better that it be a school with excellent facilities which allows students to achieve their potential and subsequently go forward and use their skills to benefit the community. The alternative, at the moment, is to leave the land as it is since there are no plans and no practical thoughts of how to bring the area to the same state as Lake Meadows, Norsey Wood or Mill Meadows for the use of the community.
Finally I think the school would have been better advised to develop the whole 6.4 hectares and provide affordable housing and other community facilities such as a doctor's surgery, dentist's surgery or, in a brain storming frame of mind, a community hall, something that Billericay lacks.