A PLAN to build nine new flats on a busy dead end road in Corringham has been approved after Thurrock Council ruled the site qualifies as "grey belt" under updated national planning rules.

The outline application for land which is a dusused former car park Herd Lane has been given the go ahead by planning officers.

The plot, currently an area of hardstanding previously used for off street parking, sits within the Metropolitan Green Belt.

However, planning officers concluded the land did not strongly contribute to green belt purposes and therefore met newly introduced criteria for grey belt development.

Revisions to the National Planning Policy Framework in 2025 allow some green belt sites to be reclassified where they are previously developed or offer limited contribution to preventing sprawl or protecting historic settings.

Officers found the Herd Lane site was surrounded by existing development on three sides and bordered Cobblers Mede Lake to the south, meaning it no longer served the function of preventing encroachment into open countryside.

In their report, planners also highlighted Thurrock's acute housing shortage, with the council able to demonstrate only a year's housing land supply—well below the government's five year requirement.

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They said the nine flats would make "a small but positive contribution" to meeting local need.

Drawings show a two storey block with an additional flat in the roof space, communal garden areas and 14 parking spaces.

While detailed design, access, layout and landscaping will be decided at a later stage, officers said the plans demonstrated the site could accommodate the development without harming neighbours or the nearby Grade II-listed Thatched Cottage.

Herd Lane is a dead-end road that is home to the two sites that make up Corringham Primary School (Mossbourne Herd Lane) , the Wyldecrest Sports and Country Club and First Corringham Scouts Hall , a former guest house (Gower Hall) which in being converted into a large house of multiple occupancy and a number of private houses, including those on Clarence Road. It also offers access to the Cobblers Mede fishing lake. It is particularly congested with traffic, particularly at school drop off and pick-up times and also when events, including East Thurrock Community FC matches at the Wyldecrest Club take place.

However, no objections were raised by the council's highways department, Essex Police, environmental health, or the council's heritage adviser, although several conditions were attached.

These include a full construction management plan, contamination assessment, renewable energy measures, cycle storage, electric vehicle charging points, and a landscape strategy incorporating biodiversity enhancements.

Approving the scheme, officers concluded: "The proposal cannot be considered inappropriate development within the Green Belt" and complies with both national policy and the council's development plan.

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