THURROCK councillors say they fear delays in producing a local plan for the borough could mean a “free for all for developers” reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Thurrock’s Labour-led administration has delayed the delivery of its local plan until 2028. The plan will earmark land for housing, infrastructure and employment for decades to come.
A consultation into a draft plan, which had been eight years in the pipeline, took place last year. However, uncertainty over the Lower Thames Crossing and a £1.28 million shortfall in funds to complete the plan has contributed to further delays.
Labour has criticised previous Tory administrations for kicking the issue into the long grass.
Speaking at a place overview and scrutiny meeting on Wednesday, Lee Watson, councillor responsible for good growth, said: “I had an officer that used to work here who said that she left, got married, had two children and came back and nothing had happened.
“It is a 25-year-plan but what you should be doing is every ten years refreshing and looking at the next ten years ahead but nothing was done. It’s been continuously left and left and then it was a mad rush and it wasn’t done properly. It didn’t have the right steer to be done properly.”
Ms Watson added: “If we did not extend the timetable and we put it through it would not have passed Secretary of State approval at all and it would have put us in intervention.”
However, Gary Byrne, chairman of the committee, said: “The frustration for me is on the planning committee we had to roll over and let them concrete over Linford and East Tilbury because we didn’t have a local plan.
“That’s a concern at what’s going to come into planning is quite scary. I don’t want to go into planning meetings in handcuffs because there’s no local plan.”
Roy Jones, Independent councillor for Stanford East and Corringham Town, said the lack of local plan, that sets out clear areas for development, left the council “open”. He said: ”We’ve got to be a bit more concerned with these developers. They know we haven’t got a local plan. It’s been going on so long now that people are saying they are getting fed up with consultations.
“I really do hope we can make sone progress with this but in between times, I’m concerned that developers may look at Thurrock Council and use the opportunity while we haven’t got a local plan to force certain developments that I don’t think are going to suite this borough.”
