Oaks are felled in what could be prelude to leisure village construction
THURROCK Council has assured concerned residents that the chopping down of several prominent oak trees at a local golf course has had official sanction.
The action appears to be the start of work on a major new development.
It is two and a half years since permission was formally granted for a new leisure complex and retirement village on one of Langdon Hills Golf Club's three nine-hole courses.
The decision, controversially made by councillors against officer advice in June 2020, was rubber-stamped by the government's planning inspectorate after the council's own officers referred the decision – but it wasn't until September 2022 that all the paperwork was completed.
Developers suggested the council prevaricated as a protest against being overruled.
And since the signing, all has been quiet about the site – with no work appearing to take place and speculation that the scheme had been mothballed surfaced.
And a clock was also running. Work on the site had to start within three years of the agreement being signed or the permission lapsed.
That appears to have now happened as teams moved in to cut down a number of oak trees on the entrance to the course.
Residents contacted Thurrock Nub News to ask if removing the trees is permissible and, through the council, it has been confirmed it is.
A statement to Nub News from the council says: "There are no trees with Tree Preservation Orders in that area. Planning permission for the development of a new clubhouse was approved in September 2022, it included the removal of seven category C trees on the site. https://regs.thurrock.gov.uk/online-applications/simpleSearchResults.do?action=firstPage ."
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