Housing development causes rat infestation (From Southend Standard)

Hawkwell housing development causes rat infestation

4:00pm Friday 22nd March 2013 in News By David Trayner

Residents unhappy at problems caused by the Christmas Tree Farm development, Hawkwell

A RAT infestation and the loss of foliage from a well-used path have angered neighbours of a controversial housing development.

The Christmas Tree Farm development in Hawkwell is upsetting residents after work has barely begun with workmen decimating a tree-lined footpath and rats from the building site invading the area.

Carol Dutton, 66, of Thorpe Road, which is next to the site in Rectory Road, said: “The whole thing is an absolute disaster for this area.

“We were a semi-rural area and now we are not. People are very, very upset about it.

“You love the area you live in and then it’s gone. It’s life-changing.”

Developer David Wilson Homes met residents and said it would rid the area of rats and Rochford District Council has promised to monitor the situation.

But the trees and shrubs which lined the footpath between the two ends of Thorpe Road, used by school children, horse riders and the elderly, will not return.

The footpath will be given a hard surface, as agreed in the plans.