A LATE change of mind by planning councillor Gerard Rice swayed the balance of approval in a controversial planning application in Stanford-le-Hope this evening (Thursday, 11 February).

The application for nine new homes on the new James Court development adjacent to St Clere's Hall, which was before councillors for a fourth time after a number of deferments and a site visit, appeared to be foundering as it approached a vote.

Councillors Gary Byrne and Angela Lawrence had reiterated their opposition to the scheme on the grounds that the developer has failed to honour previous commitments and they felt could not be trusted to adhere to strict conditions that were laid out this evening.

And the reason why he might not do so were sharply brought into context by Cllr Byrne who asked what would happen if he did not adhere to conditions. "Will we tell him to knock it down if he doesn't do what he is supposed to do?"

The unequivocal response from officers was 'no' with planning officer Nadia Houghton saying that would be taking a sledgehammer to the problem. Cllr Byrne commented: "So he will just get a slap on the wrist then! What is the point of planning conditions? We should just reject this."

And it seemed as if that was what would happen.

Councillors had questioned the unkempt state of the site, a failure to adhere to previous instructions re parking and a number of other concerns.

Several cosmetic changes to the site have been made, but Cllr Lawrence believes that it is just lip service that is being paid to councillors' concerns. She said: "We all know if we hadn't brought it up he wouldn't have done it. To be honest I haven't got faith he is going to do what he said he would.

"This shouldn't go ahead, he should concentrate on what he has got to do and then come back in a few years' time."

Cllr Rice appeared to be backing that argument and raised his own doubts about the integrity of the developer, speaking about a knee-high fence that has been put in place to keep cars out, and saying: "I am a bit concerned about this. We cannot be really sure this fence will be there forever."

Cllr Mike Fletcher also raised his doubts, saying: "We seem to be getting a slightly shifty feeling on this. But we need to be very clear what we are unhappy with and what we expect to see changing. We want to avoid falling into the trap of what the applicant is doing, saying 'Is that alright, is that alright?"

He called for clarity in a clearly detailed recommendation to approve the plan for five apartments and four homes and committee chair Cllr Tom Kelly made sure one was laid before councillors.

However, his recommendation for approval appeared to be going unsupported and there was a long pause after he asked, a couple of times, if anyone would second approval? Cllr Byrne chipped in with 'no' but then Cllr Rice broke the silence by, almost grudgingly, saying he would take it to a vote by seconding it.

So with his vote and Cllr Kelly's it took two more to carry the day, with Cllr and Fletcher and Cllr Sue Shinnock saying yes. Cllrs Lawrence, Byrne and Sue Sammons were against.