Planned village development causes spilt in local opinion

RESIDENTS in Horndon on the Hill are rallying to oppose a proposed five homes housing development in the village - though the application has won some support, including that of a former mayor and council leader. An application has been submitted to Thurrock Council for three detached and two semi-detached dwellings with associated access, parking and landscaping on land adjacent to Rex House Tradewinds and Lion Barn Arden House on the High Road. The site has an existing building that has been converted into a dwelling adjacent to the vacant land which sits behind High Road. Access is currently from High Road into The Barn and Arden House, which would also be used this proposal. The rest of the land is laid to grass and is not under agricultural use. The full access and design statement for the planned development can be read here. How the proposed devlopment would be accessed. To date there have been 20 public comments on the application, 14 of which oppose it. However six do support it, including Anne Cheale, a nearby resident who is a former mayor and was Thurrock Council's leader between June 2004 and May 2006. She says: "I am writing in support of this application for five new homes, together with the proposed access, parking, landscaping and on-site Biodiversity Net Gain. Download our Nub News App! - It's FREE and available now - Breaking news notifications - Your Town in Your Pocket "Having served as Mayor of Thurrock, I understand the importance of balancing the borough's need for housing with the protection of its historic villages. Horndon on the Hill has a distinctive character which must be respected, but preserving that character does not require the village to remain entirely unchanged. "This is a relatively small development situated alongside existing properties. It offers an opportunity to provide additional homes gradually and in a form that can be controlled through appropriate conditions covering design, materials, landscaping, access, drainage and heritage. "Thurrock must find suitable places for new housing. If reasonable small-scale proposals are continually rejected, the need for those homes remains and development becomes concentrated on fewer, much larger sites. How the site would be laid out. "Supporting this application would not establish that every proposal around Horndon should be approved. It would simply recognise that modest and sensitively managed growth can be preferable to allowing housing pressure to build until larger developments become difficult to resist." However, others disagree. High Road resident Colin Douglas says: "If this development is approved, it will be a gateway to further applications to continue building. If this were to happen, would there be any end to this process or would development continue with other new streets added, until the village becomes a suburb of Stanford-le-Hope?' Another High Road resident, Lisa Anderson - whose husband Phil is a former Conservative colleague of Mrs Cheale and himself a leader of Thurrock conservatives at one point - said: "This would be built directly in front of and alongside existing beautiful homes and would significantly compromise the privacy and sense of seclusion that is currently enjoyed by residents. This is most inconsiderate and I sincerely hope this is rejected." advertisement Chelle Farnan, also of High Road, says: "This area of our lovely village is already densely populated and we are subjected to regular power outages. More homes will only add to the burden. "More housing will further increase the pressure in an already crowded and busy area of the village even with the planned parking provision for the houses. "The proposed homes are high end properties that will do nothing to support the local community's need for council housing and affordable housing. Our adult children cannot afford to live in the village they have grown up in."