AN ELECTRICITY substation blocking sweeping views of a park will now be removed after Southend Council installed it without permission.
The substation was installed in March in the Southchurch Park East car park and was designed to be used to power electric vehicle charging points.
However, it emerged it was built on land protected by a covenant and without consultation with residents.
According to residents, it was just four feet away from homes in Lifstan Way and blocked views of the park.
It will now be moved under the orders of council leader Daniel Cowan, but it is unclear how much it cost to install and how pricey removal will be.
Mr Cowan said: “Errors were made with the placement of this substation, ordered under the previous administration. We are putting those errors right and will relocate the substation to a more appropriate location as part of our EV infrastructure programme.
“Costs for relocation of the substation are still to be worked on and this is another example of the mess we inherited. Other sites are being looked at away from the park and we are reviewing the EV infrastructure strategy to avoid any more improperly located and unnecessary substations.”
Covenants on the park say nothing can be built on there apart from toilets, a pumping station for the lake and facilities for the car park in terms of shelters.
Ron Woodley, Independent councillor for Thorpe Ward, said: “They didn’t seek permission and no consultation took place, so it will be removed just like any other unplanned development without permission. The council can’t do one thing and then do something else itself, so the substation will be removed because no permission was granted for it to be built.
“It’s something I fought against because you have to follow the principles of development control. You build something like that on a flood plain without consultation with the neighbours or even the councillors.”
Tony Cox, leader of the Reform Group and leader of Conservative Group when the installation took place said : “Officers had no choice but to remove it because they shouldn’t have put it there. They did it because they didn’t think they needed planning permission. They thought it was their land.
“It wasn’t another Tory mess. Officers did it without us knowing.”
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