Campaigners have been left frustrated and disappointed after plans to turn a derelict pub into flats were approved.
The owners of Oxford House conference rooms, in Upper Holt Street, Earls Colne, applied to turn the ground floor into two flats and build a two-storey house in the car park.
The Grade II listed building used to be The Carved Angel pub, which closed suddenly in 2006, and there has been strong opposition to the plans from the Reclaim the Carved Angel campaign group, which has 170 members and sent in a petition with 70 signatures.
Chris Siddall, Earls Colne district councillor, urged councillors at the planning committee meeting on Tuesday to turn down the application so the building could be sold and return as a pub.
He said at the meeting: “Without a doubt this application raised more objections in the village than any that I can remember - this has been absolutely the one that has set hairs running.
“I used to go to the Carved Angel pub and it can only be described as heaving."
See this week's Halstead Gazette for the full story.
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