PLANNING officers have given approval for a green belt development of six homes on a rural road near Orsett – adding to a number of recent approvals.

The development is the latest in a string of building projects on Sandown Road, a short, dead-end road off Stanford Road (A1013).

In 2020 permission was given for five detached homes on the site of the former dwelling known as Tremorgan.

This aerial picture shows the location of the new bungalows.

The latest 'green light' comes for six bungalows to be built on a former garden nursey site, which has already been developed with a number of large, detached houses.

Spot the difference? One is "inappropriate development in the green belt and would have an unacceptable effect on the openness of the green belt. The other doesn't.

The site had previously been the venue for an application for seven homes, but that was rejected in 2023 on the grounds it represented "inappropriate development in the green belt and would have an unacceptable effect on the openness of the green belt." Dropping it to six dwellings on exactly the same geographical footprint has now changed that opinion by officers.

The six bungalows sit directly behind seven detached homes that were given permission in 2014.

And in 2005 an estate of six detached dwellings on a new cul-de-sac called Sandown Close, on the site of the former Les Snack Bar, at the junction of Sandown Road with Stanford Road was approved.

Will this come next? Plans have been drawn up for a 775 home estate.

Also still to hand is the possibility of a development of up to 775 homes with a new 'village centre' on land adjacent to Sandown Road and the neighbouring Bonners estate. Details of that came to light in 2023.