The Echo, 18 July 2007, Jon Austin, Political Reporter The Echo has realised, like us, that things are just going too far with the number of flats being approved in Wickford. Read the full article Read more about the plans for the Toyota Garage Not only did the proposal for flats on the site of the Toyota garage make the front page, the Wickford Action Group also featured in the main editorial below.

Take a look at Wickford, Mr Brown

"A RESISTANCE movement is mounting in Wickford that could represent the shape of things to come in communities throughout the South East. 

This small commuter town is the subject of hundreds of planning applications for sites dotted around the centre. Residents fear the much-vaunted Wickford masterplan will, in reality, produce a battery hen farm. The Wickford Action Group is also raising questions about infrastructure, questions politicians and developers have become adept at evading. 

Housebuilding firms are keen enough to throw up profitable homes, but are less forward in planning for doctors' surgeries, schools and sewage farms. Gordon Brown has thrown his weight behind the building of three million new homes, but he also has to consider the flipside - a region so jam-packed, the quality of life plummets. 

Anyone wanting to see these effects, travel to Wickford. The Wick development more than doubled the town's size in not much more than a decade. Now developers are asking for more, but increasingly residents are saying enough is enough. Wickford could become a classic study for planners everywhere"