THURROCK Council have claimed a success in the long-running issue of illegal development at the Buckles Lane Traveller site at South Ockendon.

Earlier this year the council was criticised by the Ombudsman and slammed by borough MP Jackie Doyle-Price for failing to get to grips with enforcing planning regulations on the site, which have been widely breached.

Today (Friday, 14 August) the council issued the following statement: "Following a court hearing on Thursday 6 August 2020, Thurrock Council has successfully been granted an interim High Court injunction preventing any further unauthorised development on more than 100 acres of green belt land to the north of Buckles Lane and to the south of Mollands Lane, South Ockendon.

"A consent order was agreed by the involved parties and sealed by the court on Thursday, 13 August 2020. This will ensure the interim injunction will continue until a trial is heard later in the year to determine if it will be made permanent."

Council leader Cllr Rob Gledhill, says: "Our environmental and planning enforcement officers working in partnership proactively identified an area of green belt land where unauthorised development was being carried out.

"The teams obtained evidence of this development, reacting quickly, and working closely with our legal team, to obtain an interim injunction preventing any further unauthorised development at the site.

"We are committed to ensuring all areas of the borough are developed in line with legal requirements, and national and local planning policy. Any breaches of planning control are investigated by our officers.

"The High Court action we have taken is part of continuing activity at the site to deal with unauthorised development and is part of our overall development strategy.

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"Being granted this injunction gives us the powers we need to protect our land more effectively and should act as a deterrent for any future areas of land that might be at risk of unauthorised development.

"I would like to thank everyone who has worked hard on this process, its success has been due to the significant gathering of evidence from everyone involved."