ORGANISERS of an online petition against a proposed housing development in Grays are hoping for a surge in signatures in the hope it will meet a threshold set by Thurrock Council to spark a full debate.

The petition was launched earlier this year by the Blackshots residents objection group, who chose to use the Change.org platform to gather names, rather than the council's own petitions service.

The criteria for a petition to spark a full council debate is 1,500 signatures – which have to be verified. If a petition is created via a third-party platform like Change.org, Thurrock Council is not legally bound to accept it automatically because it doesn't verify whether the signatories are local government electors on the Thurrock register. However, some have been accepted in the past.

Currently the objection group has mustered 1,303 signatures and organisers have called on residents who have not yet signed up to do so. The petition is here.

Campaigners say Blackshots is a cherished part of Grays, providing a green space that supports wildlife, recreation, and contributes to the area's rural charm.

They believe developers Stonebond, who want to build 54 new homes off Blackshots Lane, will disrupt the habitat of local species and will also erode the community's access to open spaces, impacting residents' quality of life.

And they add essential services such as schools, medical facilities, and public transportation might not cope with the increased demand, leading to a decline in service quality.

Stonebond countered some of those assertions in their Design and Access statement, part of which can be read here.

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The application can be viewed in full via this link.