Planning Inspectorate to hear appeal over controversial 750 new homes plan on borough airfield.
A PLANNING Inspectorate hearing in July will decide the fate of a controversial planning application for up to 750 new homes on land at Kings Farm, adjacent to the A128 between Orsett and Bulphan.
The application, which has been debated several times and rejected by Thurrock Council, will take place in the council chamber at Thurrock Town Hall, starting on Tuesday, 1 July, and is scheduled to last 13 days.
Residents can make observations on the application, but they need to be received by 7 March. Details can be found via this link.
Plans to build the new homes on the land, submitted by Grasslands Ltd, were last discussed at a meeting of the council's planning committee in July last year, when they were rejected.
At that meeting Kevin Leigh, speaking on behalf Grasslands Ltd, was critical of Thurrock Council because it currently has no viable local plan.
He said: "At the moment you have no current plan in place. You are massively out of date, and you are hugely behind on providing housing.
"The plan in itself doesn't provide enough housing for you to match up to what this new government says is going to be 300,000 houses per year.
"It may be that orthodox planning encourages people to think green belt is immutable but that is going to change. It probably should have changed a long time ago and we wouldn't be in the housing crisis that we're in.
"You cannot protect every blade of grass."
The appeal to the Planning Inspectorate was placed by local landowner and millionaire businessman Terry Holding, He passed away recently after a business and personal career that earned him a reputation for hard-nosed dealing with local authorities.
Mr Holding clashed with Thurrock Council in 2003, losing a High Court battle against a decision for him to remove hangers at his airfield. Ironically, he slammed the Planning Inspectorate at the time and questioned its discretion and reasoning.
In the same year, angered by an action by Castle Point Council, where his business was based on Canvey Island, he took to the skies with a plane trailing a banner slating the council's Mayor.
The mayor, Jenifer Howlett, successfully pursued a High Court libel action against Mr Holding who was accused of pursuing a 'vindictive hate campaign' against her. She won £65,000 in damages and costs after her QC called Mr Holding a 'despicable coward and a bully'.
In 2006 public services minister Bill Bell spoke publicly against Mr Holding, referring to his 'cruel and cynical' attitude following a proposal that he might invest £10m in Alderney Airport.
Orsett ward councillor Barry Johnson has spoken to Thurrock Nub News about the forthcoming appeal, saying: "I have informed council officers that my original statement made to committee on my agreement with officers to refuse this application remain as this would be an unmitigated disaster for the village.
"In fact, it would be very difficult to see Bulphan as a village any longer if this size of application was approved by the inspector.
"My concerns lie with the fact that this Labour Government seem to have little regard for green belt and are intent on building wherever they can so while I am sure officers will continue to put forward their reasons for refusal, I fear the inspector may look favourably on this application because of Government overtones.
"I and fellow Orsett councillor David Day will be encouraging officers to continue to fight this application."
At the council meeting in July Cllr Johnson said: "Apart from the site being firmly within the metropolitan green belt which remains precious it's quite clear the village of Bulphan and the site itself cannot accommodate an application of this size.
"I also do not see how the building of flats or buildings of three storeys high could be in keeping with the area.
"This is fenland and as such is flat so any building of this type would have a massive impact on the openness of this green belt site."
The council has received 85 letters objecting to the application, including from Dunton Community Forum.
Mr Johnson added: "I'm aware of many letters of objection. Some of them stand out, in particular the proposal is nearly twice the size of the existing Bulphan Village which would not only change the character of the area, it would also see a vastly rural area turned into another village, which if allowed would encourage urban sprawl.
"Neither the A128 nor Bulphan Village can cope with an application of this size."
A plan has also been lodged with the council for up to 2,000 homes to the north of Bulphan. In December, angry villagers from Bulphan and West Horndon delivered a petition to the Town Hall, opposing that scheme.
And neighhouring Brentwood Council has given permission for a development of up to 3,700 homes just across the A128 at Dunton Hills. (See Nub News story on that development via this link).
At the most recent major appeal heard by the Planning Inspectorate involving Thurrock Council, the authority ultimately backed down and removed its objections to plans for up to 1,000 new homes in East Tilbury and Linford, despite commissioning a barrister to support its case.
The legal bill from the council was £87,000 - prompting fears that, going forwards, the cash-strapped authority may put cost of legal action ahead of standing by its decisions.
That was highlighted in a Thurrock Nub News story when East Tilbury Cllr Fraser Massey, said it was vital the council backed its principles with action, regardless of the cost. Otherwise, he said, the council would be helping drive the final nail in the borough green belt's coffin.
Thurrock Nub News has asked the council what its intentions are at the appeal, but to date has received no response.
Evidence that the council is being wary about objecting to applications on the ground of potential cost came in November last year when an application for 90 new homes in the green belt was approved, despite almost universal condemnation by members of the planning committee of the plan for homes on land west of Park Lane in Aveley.
In the end they reluctantly agreed with officers that the scheme should be approved following legal advice that none of the councillors' suggested reasons for refusal could be successfully defended at a planning appeal.
Speaking the meeting a former chair of the committee, Cllr Tom Kelly said: "Unfortunately we've got to the end of the road here. We've tried to reject it. Green belt is a good substantive reason to refuse. It's become clear over the last few weeks that if we continue to reject these they are just going to be lost on appeal.
"It's a lot of money and that's taxpayers' money and we have to justify that cost."
Current chair of the planning committee, Cllr Mike Fletcher, has also spoken of his dislike of undue pressure and planning aggression being brought by way of threats and leverage on the council and councillors.
Speaking to members of his committee in July last year, he took into account Mr Leigh's comments on behalf of Grasslands (above), when addressing another applicant representing the Mulbury Strategic Land group, saying: "We've had a couple of instances tonight in our applications of suggestions, both implicated and straight out that our planning officers for some reason don't know their job or are misleading us or don't have the ability to give us a decent proposal.
"We on the committee are very used to disagreeing with our colleagues, the officers and very often it is because while they may be correct in their application law we may have a different view from the position of our jobs as representatives of the local people.
"However, whether we agree or disagree with our planning officers it always done with the point of view of respect and I would like to see the same respect shown when making application statements to this committee.
"I trust if I see either of you gentlemen again, which I hope I do, that you will bear that in mind. Do I make myself clear?"
In a twist of timing, Mulbury Strategic Land latest plans for Thurrock were reported on Nub News yesterday (Wednesday, 5 February) when we featured a proposal for a controversial 500+ homes development in Corringham.
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