Planning Application submitted for 98 new homes in Bures – 5th March 2018
There is an outline planning application for the erection of up to 98 dwellings on land East of Colchester Road in Bures Hamlet, including a new vehicular access point from Colchester Road. Application Number 17/02291/OUT. The case officer is Melanie Corbishley.
The developers are Gladman Developments, nationwide operators based in Cheshire. They specialize in obtaining residential planning consents on edge of town greenfield sites. The promise on their web site is: “We seek to secure planning permission quickly – think 14 months not 10 years…”
Gladman currently have 14 other developments in Essex including one on the edge of Halstead for 292 homes and one in Earls Colne for 115 properties on land west of station road.
If you wish to comment on the Bures application, you can do so online via this link: https://publicaccess.braintree.gov.uk/online-applications/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=summary&keyVal=P1BDOEBFG9O00
Or you can write to Braintree District Council: Development Management, Causeway House, Bocking End, Braintree, CM7 9HB. The deadline for comments is 5th April 2018.
It is worth noting that the quality of agricultural land being proposed for housing is of Grade 2/3a standard. This runs counter to Government policy as set out in National Planning Policy Framework paragraph 112 which states that “the best and the most versatile agricultural land should be protected. Local planning authorities should therefore seek to use areas of poorer quality land in preference to that of higher quality.”
A number of Bures residents have already addressed their concerns to the council concerning pressure on the local school, roads, trains, and the train station car park. Some have suggested that there is a more suitable brownfield site within the village that should be developed for housing first. They have also reminded the council that this land falls within a proposed AONB boundary extension.
We are currently awaiting the outcome of the Parish Council meetings. CSCA Chairman Charles Aldous is in touch with Paula Booth of The Stour Valley Project, the body recognised by the Councils as authoritative on matters affecting the AONB expansion and protection of the Stour Valley landscape. The CSCA will coordinate with the Stour Valley Project’s response.
