Burnham: 'It's investment. It's jobs' (From Maldon and Burnham Standard)

Burnham: 'It's investment. It's jobs'

11:30am Tuesday 21st August 2012 in Local News By Gareth Burton

Burnham: 'It's investment. It's jobs'

A developer hoping to transform the west of Burnham and help ease the district’s housing crisis has defended its plans.

Simon Butler-Finbow, project director for Burnham West - the consortium behind the proposed development - gave the Standard an exclusive look at its latest draft blueprint, which includes a new primary school, nursery, medical surgery and the potential for a second vehicular railway crossing.

The consortium is hoping that Maldon District Council ’s new Local Development Plan, which will set out how and where the district should be developed between 2014 and 2029, will pave the way for its proposals to come to fruition.

The council’s preferred options consultation for the plan, which has earmarked land to the west of Burnham for 450 new homes, ends on August 28 and has sparked anger among some residents in the town.

But Mr Butler-Finbow played down the significance of an estimated 450 people attending a public meeting, emphasising that there are that many people and more in need of housing.

Speaking about the consortium’s own plans, he said: “It’s investment, it’s jobs. It’s a whole range of things, but like everything it’s a balancing act.

“Certain elements people will be for and certain elements they will be against.”

SEE TOMORROW'S STANDARD FOR THE LATEST ON THE PLANS FOR BURNHAM WEST