NEW plans have been submitted to expand a Traveller site in Fobbing after a much larger scheme was rejected over concerns about an adverse impact on the green belt.

The Mill Lane site already has one authorised pitch, with the latest application seeking permission for four more.

Two of the proposed pitches would accommodate the applicant's children as they reach adulthood, while the other two are intended to help meet what planning documents describe as an unmet need for Traveller accommodation in Thurrock.

Each new pitch is expected to contain one static mobile home and one touring caravan.

Thurrock Council officers rejected an earlier proposal for nine additional pitches in July, citing harm to the openness of the Green Belt and the area's rural character.

In submissions from the public about that application, there was overwhelming opposition with 14 submissions against it.

And a bid to expand the site in 2022 met with another refusal when it was described as 'a pimple on a haystack'.

However, a planning statement submitted with the latest application argues the significantly reduced scheme responds to the concerns raised by the previous proposal.

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Existing stables and containers would also be removed, which the applicants argue would help reduce the development's overall impact on the Green Belt.

The application makes the shortage of authorised Traveller sites in Thurrock a central part of its case.

Planning agents say just seven pitches were approved and developed in the borough between 2016 and 2021, despite earlier evidence identifying an unmet need for at least 78 pitches.

The planning statement also argues the council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable Traveller sites and points to the lack of alternative accommodation and previous Planning Inspectorate decisions in support of the application.

A preliminary ecological assessment has also been submitted, alongside proposals to achieve a ten per cent biodiversity net gain.