PLANS for 500 new homes in Hullbridge will finally be heard by Rochford Council after years of delays.

An outline planning application for 500 homes west of Malyons Lane will go before the council's development committee on Tuesday, March 22, after a series of delays and changes.

While Michael Hoy, Green councillor for Hullbridge, is opposed to the application, he admits the former green belt land, now classed as residential as part of the council’s housing strategy, will have homes on it eventually.

He said: “It is frustrating that this has taken this long to get to a meeting but it is testament to the residents of Hullbridge, they have sent a lot of paperwork to the council, kept them busy, and it has been shown that their objections are valid because of the changes from the applicant.

“They are trying to address these issues but the problem is that the core housing strategy is still wrong.

“There will have to be housing there at some point because the Government and the council say so.

“I believe that whoever the developers are they will have the opposition of the residents of Hullbridge to battle with at every turn.”

The initial application was submitted to the council in October 2014, sparking concerns over flooding, overcrowding and the impact on local roads, schools and health services.

In 2013, the Hullbridge Residents Association canvassed opinion from the entire village and obtained signatures from 98.5 per cent of the 6,586 inhabitants, who were against the development.

The association, led by former chartered surveyor Brian Carleton, submitted a lengthy document of objections to the council, leading to amendments to the roads, drainage and infrastructure details in the plan.

Mr Carleton said: “The same thing will happen to this as did with the similar application for homes west of Rayleigh.

“I expect our MP, Mark Francois, to speak in the same way, for the application to be deferred for a few months, for the council to make excuses of being in danger of breaching the core strategy and facing fines if they refuse it, then for it to come back at another meeting and to be passed.

“Many times I have given up hope, what is the point of doing the hard work when it seems like it will get forced through anyway?”

Lagging behind on home building?

ROCHFORD Council’s Core Strategy was adopted in 2012, with their allocations document following in February 2014.

The document shows where more than 4,000 homes will be built in the district by 2025.

A total of 2,785 of these were allocated for green belt land, such as that west of Malyons Lane, in Hullbridge.

Legally, the land is now no longer green belt, even though it is still open fields, as it is allocated as residential in the plan.

Work began last month on 600 homes in Hall Road, Rochford, after years of delays, and outline planning permission for 500 new homes west of Rayleigh, between London Road and Rawreth Lane, was granted in October last year, nine months after it was first discussed in a development committee meeting.

Elsewhere in the district, 175 homes are now nearly full at the Clements Gate development in Hawkwell.

However, 450 of the Hall Road homes and 50 other dwellings in Folly Lane, Hockley, were supposed to be completed by 2015, meaning at least 500 of the council’s planned homes are behind schedule.