Cressing 250 homes plans approved by Braintree Council

Outline permission for the scheme in Cressing by Persimmon Homes was originally refused by Braintree Council, but that decision was overturned at appeal.

Approving the final, detailed application at a meeting on Tuesday night, February 14, members of the planning committee criticised the inspectors’ decision, with one branding the proposal “a dog’s breakfast”.

Paige Harris, of Permission Homes, told the meeting more than £1million would be provided towards local healthcare, sports and educational facilities as a result of the plans.

She said: “We have also made sure that the provision of significant areas of landscaping, greatly in excess of the policy requirements, are central to our proposals, so the development is sympathetic to the wider countryside.”

Councillor David Mann (Labour, Bocking) said the inspector had left the council "with a dog’s breakfast and we’re into damage limitation here".

He said: “Unfortunately, we have to accept that our hands are tied on quite a lot of these issues that we would have like to have been addressed and we’ve just got consider the site as it has been permitted and try and make the best of it that we can.”

Councillors took issue with the potential living conditions of future residents and claimed a new spine road would be used as a bypass during peak times.

Councillor James Abbott (Green, Silver End and Cressing) said the development would be a free standing village in the countryside, rather than an extension of Braintree.

He said: “This is another site with no on-site facilites, no GP surgery, no shop, no pre-school, no pharmacy, absolutely nothing. It’s a housing estate in the countryside, disconnected from the surrounding communities.”

The homes themselves will be between one and four-bedroom and a mix of market-rate and afforable housing.

Two blocks of three-storey flats will be built as a “local feature” towards a proposed roundabout junction with Braintree Road, according to a council report.