A THURROCK Council planning officer, who has previously championed and promoted housing developers' commitments to affordable homes, has told a meeting of the authority's planning committee that he has not seen any affordable housing actually delivered.

The surprise comment came from experienced planning officer David Stewart, who has been with the council for approaching a year - during which time he has presented and supported a number of potential developments schemes and recommended their approval, frequently referring to affordable housing benefits.

Yet at last night's (Tuesday, 10 March) meeting of the planning committee, he presented two schemes on behalf of Thurrock Council who plan to build temporary social housing dwellings. He told members there was 'an acute shortage of affordable homes for local people' and the presentation to the council he was making, was a 'first' in terms of delivering affordable homes.

Mr Stewart told the meeting: "This is the first scheme that I have seen since I have been with the council that will deliver affordable housing. It will assist in meeting the urgent need for affordable accommodation."

Mr Stewart presented two schemes.

The first was for three 3-bed and two 4-bed houses with associated car parking spaces on the site of two former council houses, recently demolished on The Geerings in Corringham. The proposal was only put before council on 8 January, this year.

The second was a proposal for the redevelopment of the former Prince of Wales site at South Ockenden. It will provide nine flats of which six are two bedroomed units, with the remainder three bedroomed.

The Prince of Wales

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The pub, once an iconic venue, was purchased by the council in 2015 with the intention of demolishing it for new homes. Permission was granted for demolition in 2016 but that sparked a public protest and a petition of around 500 signatures calling for the pub to be saved.

At the time the campaigners said: "The building is of a timber frame design retaining quite a few original features. There is not much left of the old South Ockendon and what is left the council are slowly destroying. Save Ockendon, save The Prince of Wales!"

Little happened. though the planning permission did expire. In 2021 the council applied to itself for demolition again and permission was granted - eventually leading to the latest proposal which will bring an end to more than 11 years of dithering.

Both applications, which will be constructed using modular techniques to speed up delivery, were unanimously approved.