I WRITE regarding Colchester Council’s Draft Local Plan.

Residents have until September 16 to comment on this plan online and I would urge as many people as possible to do so as the plan proposals are lamentable and inadequate.

As I warned before the local elections, the plan proposes to build three large new towns; one near to Wivenhoe, the “West Tey” development and one near to Braintree.

The plan is to increase the Colchester area’s population by an estimated 18,400 people by 2033.

Yet the section of the plan dealing with the need for more healthcare facilities is a complete joke.

All it contains is a few vague promises to: “work with the NHS... to ensure adequate provision.”

So what exactly are they asking for? A new hospital? An extension to the existing one? None of this is made clear.

They admit there is already a need for better healthcare facilities yet there is nothing at all in the plan regarding what they propose to do about coping with a huge surge in demand.

There has been no assessment of the cost at all.

As far as transport in concerned, all they are proposing is “improvements” to the A12 and A120.

This is hardly likely to be enough to manage congestion with 18,400 new residents arriving with cars.

Moreover it is absurd to suggest the new residents will choose to work within the new town rather than within Colchester.

How on earth can they guarantee this?

All three new towns will be built on greenfield sites.

Colchester Council does not even have a full register of brownfield sites in the area which sums up its attitude to the environment.

The sections of the plan dealing with countryside protection are so riddled with caveats that basically any development could be allowed on any wildlife habitat or area of countryside so long as Colchester Council believes the need for development outweighs other considerations.

In other words there is no protection at all.

I would urge as many people as possible to have their say on this plan which could fundamentally damage the Colchester area for decades to come.

To get involved in the consultation visit colchester.gov.uk/localplan

Mark Goacher Morant Road, Colchester

  • Inspector’s only visit

As a result of a Freedom of Information Act request I can reveal the Chief Inspector of Hospitals at the Care Quality Commission, which has issued damning criticisms of Colchester General Hospital, has made only one visit – and that was nearly nine months ago!

The official response from the Care Quality Commission states the Chief Inspector Sir Mike Richards’ one and only visit was made on January 8 this year.

I find it unacceptable the Chief Inspector of Hospitals, in view of the criticisms made by his organisation, has only visited once.

I do not think that is fair when you consider how damaging all this has been for staff morale and creating a sense of unease in the minds of the public about the competence of the hospital.

Colchester is only an hour by train from London. Sir Mike Richards could so easily have made more visits if he felt that things were so bad, but he did not.

It is not as if concerns over Colchester Hospital are new. Sir Mike was fully aware of concerns which went back to 2013 so it could be said questions should be asked of the competence of the CQC.

For starters, who monitors the quality of the CQC?

The response to my Freedom of Information Act request gave me more details than I had asked for, including the disclosure that in June 2014 Sir Mike Richards had chaired a meeting to discuss an inspection made the previous month by CQC representatives which had followed the Colchester Hospital University Trust being placed in “special measures” in November 2013.

Are we seeing a political manoeuvre to see a takeover of Colchester General Hospital by Ipswich General Hospital whose chief executive and chairman have taken over at Colchester?

The response states on April 27 this year “long-term partnership with Ipswich” was confirmed.

At the May meeting of the Colchester Hospital Trust, during the public question time session, I said the appointment of the top two people from Ipswich to run Colchester was more of a “takeover than a merger, collaboration or partnership.”

I again register my criticism of the trust’s leadership for not being vocal in supporting their loyal and hardworking staff who have been let down.

Sir Bob Russell, Catchpool Road, Colchester

  • Fall thanks

A GRATEFUL thank you to those who helped me in Head Street on Friday (August 26) when I fell ill.

To the lady who found a man to phone for help, the young man who found me some water and in particular the lady who stayed with me until help arrived.

Pamela Gibson Marlowe Way, Colchester