A THREE year battle to build a “visually harsh” block of flats on “wasteland” has been knocked back once again.
Colchester Council has thrown out a bid to build nine flats on an empty parcel of land in Tiptree because the homes would create “a negative impact to the quality of the wider street scene”.
Planning bosses wrote to the applicant, Gavin Bays, to reject the blueprints for the homes, which Mr Bays wanted to build on land behind 100 Church Road, on Friday.
The council added the site’s proximity to a supermarket lorry delivery area and glass recycling banks would “result in significant harm through noise and vibration” to future residents.
“The proposal would result in unacceptable conflict between vehicles and pedestrians due to a poor and unsafe access,” the decision notice adds.
More than 30 concerned residents wrote to Colchester Council to object to the plans.
One wrote: “It is a very small patch of wasteland that provides a breathing space for nature and breaks up the concrete jungle that Tiptree has become.”
Another said: “The design is horrible and not in keeping with the local area.”
Privacy concerns also worried some neighbours, with one fearing the flats will overlook their garden and lounge.
Planning bosses first said no to Mr Bays’ plans to build a smaller block of flats at the site in 2021.
A planning inspector visited the site in January 2022 after an appeal was raised with the Planning Inspectorate.
Planning inspector Luke Simpson dismissed the appeal because the location of the development was “not acceptable in principle” because no suitable mitigation had been included in the plans to protect nearby areas of ecological importance.
Mr Bays was eventually given “permission in principle” after resubmitting his plans to build two, three, or four flats at the site in 2022.
At the time, Tiptree Parish Council said it had “major safety concerns” about access to the site during construction and for future residents after they’d moved in.
The latest application would’ve seen 125 per cent more homes built than what the council had previously provisionally given the green light for.
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