PLANS to build a vet’s surgery and two houses on the site of a disused pub on Canvey have been thrown out.

Councillors unanimously rejected Novellus’ plans for the garden and car park of the disused King Canute pub, in Canvey Road at a Castle Point Council planning meeting.

Flooding fears, traffic and overdevelopment were the reasons given by the planning committee for the refusal.

Novellus had attempted to defer their plan’s hearing by submitting two alternative proposals for site to council officers hours before the start of the meeting, but councillors opted to go ahead.

John Anderson, councillor for Canvey central, says he was worried what the development could have meant for the former pub’s building.

He said: “It would be great to keep the original facade of the pub. Make it an environmentally pleasing site.

“If you start letting builders do piecemeal developments in the garden and car park, the bulldozers will get out of control and we’ll lose the building forever.”

Neville Watson, councillor for Canvey Winter Gardens, is delighted the proposals have been rejected and said that they were unsuitable for the area.

He explained: “The development was simply not right for the site. The junction at the pub is one of the worst in the borough. Not just on Canvey.

Everything comes to a standstill, there are accidents, trouble and traffic.

“I would discourage it from flats, as residents would need an instruction book on how to get out safely.

“All of the committee agreed that keeping the building, and sticking houses and a vet’s in the car park is a mismatch. It’s a peacemeal development, and it’s a bad news story.”

Peter May, councillor for Canvey central, has called for residents to have a greater say on the site’s future.

He said: “The pub and its building is a landmark for the island, and it means so much to the community.

“I would love to see us survey and canvas residents to see what they would like on the site, and then we can move forward and try to get something in place.

“We should be making this a priority.”

 

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