THURROCK councillors have called a decision to delay the borough’s local plan a “developers’ charter” which leaves them powerless to prevent homes being built on green belt reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Thurrock’s local plan will determine where homes and businesses are needed for decades to come but it will not now be published until 2028.
At an extraordinary council meeting on Thursday, councillors approved a motion calling for the delay and its consequences for the borough to be debated by a scrutiny committee. The motion submitted by Andrew Jefferies, Conservative councillor for Ockendon stressed the decision placed “further financial pressure” on the cash-strapped council.
Speaking at the meeting, Mr Jefferies said: “There are now serious questions over the implications of the decision taken in October and it is right that we do not repeat the failures of the past by not ensuring these are fully probed by elected members not only here tonight but by the scrutiny functions of the council.
“There has been a collective and corporate failure over many years and whilst it is important to learn from this at this stage we should be looking at the here and now and what comes next.”
Neil Speight, Independent councillor for Stanford-le-Hope West supported the motion but said past failures also needed to be investigated. In an addition to the motion he called for a report on the management and achievements of Thurrock Council’s planning department since 2015. He said: “I believe it’s of the utmost importance this authority really does believe in honesty, openness and transparency and they are not just words to be used glibly.
“Because we have been so poor and because we have refused to grasp the mettle, we have left the door wide open, not so much an own goal as kicking millions of pounds profit into predatory developers.”
Jacqui Maney, Conservative councillor for Aveley and Uplands, said she “bitterly regretted” a recent decision to grant planning permission for 90 homes on a green belt site in Aveley, largely to avoid a costly planning appeal that might follow a refusal.
She said: “I feel strongly that planning councillors were strong-armed into agreeing an application that previously the committee agreed was not a good one.
“Myself and some other planning members have been left feeling we are merely bystanders in such planning applications, just rubber stamped in a decision making process rather than being in control of the planning process and being able to determine which homes go where. There is a real fear we have created a developers’ charter by delaying the adoption of a local plan.”
The council recently lost an appeal to the planning inspectorate by developers Mulberry Strategic Land over a development in Linford, East Tilbury of up 1,000 which cost the authority £87,000 in legal fees.
Sadly money as usual comes before , health, quality of life, education, future generations to have the green space promised them. Nature.
Before building more homes in an already stretched area for all of the above reasons.
There are so many buildings left empty that can be turned into housing rather than build on green belt land. We are gradually loosing more and more land to cover in more concrete but no infrastructure put in place to support all the extra people. We don’t have the resources to support the people of Aveley already living here