The current site

The site comprises 326 acres (132 hectares) including the existing Manor Trading Estate.

It is located immediately to the north of the urban area of North Benfleet and New Thundersley, bounded by the A127 to the north and the A130 to the west. It is adjoined to the south by a number of council owned sports pitches and Woodside Cemetery, as well as the Manor Trading Estate.

The Manor Trading Estate is a large industrial estate occupying approximately 35 acres (14 hectares) and consisting of around 80 individual light industrial and storage facilities. It is sited near a residential area and a primary school, which is problematic given the numbers of HGVs constantly accessing the site and the levels of pollution generated.

The Council's recently published Core Strategy and Generic Development Control Policies Preferred Options Report comments that:

"Manor Trading Estate is of particularly poor environmental quality and suffers from access problems … the long term viability of the site for employment uses needs to be considered."

In a recent survey of businesses on the Manor Trading Estate, Green Issues found that many current occupants were unhappy with the condition of the estate and would prefer for it to be relocated closer to the A127 and A130.

The site mainly comprises areas of dense scrub and grassland that have fallen victim to a number of inappropriate uses such as fly tipping and industrial storage, which have depleted the quality of the landscape. Most of the existing road network is unusable for a standard vehicle.

Hickfort believe that, of all the sites considered for development in the Borough, North Benfleet is the one best able to provide what Castle Point most needs - new homes; new shops; new employment opportunities; public open space; community facilities; a new school and the transport infrastructure necessary to sustain a development of this scale.