THURROCK'S planning committee will be asked to make a decision on a second application to redevelop the currently closed Thurrock FC stadium and grounds when they meet later this week (Thursday, 19 August).

Plans before the committee are for a car preparation plan and conversion of the existing football stadium to a community football venue. You can view the fill application report via this link

Officers are recommending refusal of the plans which they say create too much of an adverse impact on the green belt and create traffic problems for nearby Aveley.

There has been widespread opposition to the plans in Aveley and it is expected that although there are several new committee members following this year's local elections, councillors will be minded to once more refuse the scheme – despite the benefits offered by the applicants to the community which includes use of the existing stadium and a donation to the council to help maintain and improve pitches at Belhus leisure centre.

Grays Athletic had been hoping to make use of the stadium as their new home as part of the project.

What the applicants, Group 1 Automotive, do want to do is build their car preparation plant on the now overgrown youth football pitches which are adjacent to the main ground.

The pitches were only created as recently as 2010 and cost £117,000, with £87,000 coming from the Football Foundation. Having not been used or maintained for two years, they are now heavily overgrown – as is the main pitch inside the stadium.

This is not the first football and sports facility lost to West Thurrock in recent years. Ship Lane is just a couple of miles away from the former London Fire Brigade club in Aveley which hosted many youth football teams before it was closed down. Ironically many of those teams moved to the Thurrock FC facility.

The club owners wanted to convert the site into a large housing estate, and won approval for 501 new homes from Thurrock Council in 2013, sparking uproar among residents. However, the government stepped in and overruled the application after objections were raised, including opposition from borough MP Jackie Doyle-Price.

Grays Athletic were also hoping for a positive outcome from that scheme as the applicants, Westview Properties Ltd, run by Grays' former owner Mick Woodward, had promised to build a new sports centre and football ground for Grays at Treetops School in Grays as part of the plans.

The land now remains unused and overgrown with horses grazing on it. The buildings and car park host a container storage operation.

Thursday's meeting also sees the latest consideration of a plan in the east of the borough to build new homes on the site of the Springhouse Sports and Social Club in Corringham. Some sports pitches will be lost in that proposal too but part of the playing fields will be retained and a new sports club built.