COUNCILLORS have given the go ahead for two crumbling Grays tower blocks to be demolished.

Thurrock's planning committee granted prior approval for the demolition of 1960s-built Bevan House and Morrison House on the Blackshots estate.

All the residents in the blocks have now been rehoused and any buy backs or compulsory purchase orders completed.

Keir Hardie House on the Blackshots estate is also earmarked for demolition.

The three tower block comprise 168 flats and the council has previously said it aimed to replace them 258 new, modern and energy efficient homes in a series of medium-rise blocks of flats, along with houses.

The blocks will be demolished "mechanically" rather than by explosives.

Lorries removing the debris will go down Blackshots Lane up to the Orsett Cock roundabout to the A13, providing the quickest route out with the least disruptions to residents.

Lorry movements will be limited to 17 per day. Work is expected to take about ten months.

The lorry movements, which will be carefully managed, will nevertheless put a strain on narrow local roads.

Planning committee member Cllr Jacqui Maney suggested using the adjacent King George Playing Fields as a temporary measure.

She said: "Could you not put a temporary road through the playing fields? Given that there's going to be several hundred new houses built there you could just reuse it again."

A planning officer said it would raise concerns over the loss of the playing field and the potential danger of large vehicles going through the playing field.

Chairman, Cllr Michael Fletcher reminded the committee residents had battled to save the field from being swallowed up in the new development.

He said: "If you are going to put a road right through, the only practical way of doing it where you can easily join onto the main road, would take it down past the children's play park and the Impulse Leisure buildings. That would create an issue.

"The other main issue for residents is, having fought for quite a while not to have part the field taken for part of this new development, we would find it very difficult to convince them that road wasn't going stay there.

"We managed to avoid getting houses built on our part, now you want to stick a road through it. I think we would have a lot of negative reaction on our hands."