A COUNCILOR has expressed his frustration after the refusal of a second set of housins plans was overturned by a planning inspector.

Plans for up to 94 houses on farmland off Boars Tye Road, Silver End, have been allowed by a planning inspector.

It follows the decision to overturn the refusal of 230 homes in Rivenhall.

Green Party district councillor for Silver End James Abbott said: “The Conservatives claims about 'robust controls put on housing developers' now looks an even worse case of misleading residents with this decision at Silver End coming soon after 230 houses being granted at appeal in nearby Rivenhall.

“There are more major applications in the area and more possible appeals in the pipeline.

“Despite the Braintree District Local Plan having been adopted in July 2022, which contains allocated sites for over 15,000 houses - more than legally required - and despite the large number of houses being built already locally, this trend could carry on until the Government changes the planning rules which are weighted so heavily in favour of volume developers.

“All the consultations on the Local Plan, over many years, and all the representations made by local residents and parish councils locally are being swept aside in decision after decision in what has become planning chaos in the Braintree district.

“And like almost all the other unallocated greenfield sites given the go-ahead in the district in the last few years, the Boars Tye Road site includes no new doctors surgery, no new community building, no shop or any other local facility.

“So, pressures on existing facilities and services will keep building - as well as in this case more traffic on to a notoriously fast road.”