Countryside Properties, one of the UK’s leading developers of sustainable communities, planned 475 new homes, open spaces and associated infrastructure on land to the west of Rayleigh in Essex. The land has been allocated for the development in Rochford District Council’s Core Strategy.

Spring has worked with Countryside to plan and deliver public and stakeholder consultation, engaging with local residents, key interest groups and councillors.

The engagement programme included two public exhibitions, member briefings, a consultation website and newsletters. We set up email and Freepost addresses to make the process as accessible as possible. Our work included strategy, copywriting, design and production of materials, as well as community and political liaison.

Once the consultation closed, we updated community members and councillors on the feedback we had received, and how the final West of Rayleigh plans took this into consideration. In the run up to the planning committee, we provided members with updates and monitored local comments.

Planning permission was received in September 2015, and we are delivering ongoing engagement for the detailed applications for the site, which has been allocated to the Local Plan.