Castle Point council rejects affordable housing development plans

Castle Point Borough Council rejected the plans over concerns about green belt land development

Councillors have rejected plans to build new affordable homes on green belt land.

Castle Point Borough Council voted against 44 affordable homes from developers Legal and General for a site near Hart Road in Thundersley, Essex.

The authority said the site could not be judged properly until green belt development concerns were resolved.

Legal and General said "not enough affordable homes" were being built "in the midst of a housing emergency".

The government has pledged to build 300,000 new homes per year and has given councils across the country a target to build new homes.

The borough's local plan, which has not yet been adopted by the authority, allocated the site in question for residential purposes.

More than 400 homes could be built on the Hart Road site according to inspectors, reports the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

However the council said it had concerns about the local plan's allocation of sites, including green belt development.

'Housing emergency'

Anette Simpson, from Legal and General, told the council: "We are in the midst of a housing emergency and a cost of living crisis where not enough affordable homes are being delivered to meet need.

"There are nearly 600 households on the council's housing waiting list.

"The average house price is now over 12 times the average local salary and this development will enable home ownership to local people for less than purchasing homes on the open market."

Ms Simpson also said the land was "not publicly accessible" and was "not part of the borough's open countryside".

"It is very different to the typical greenbelt land," she said.

Conservative councillor Jacqui Thornton told the committee: "It is a very good opportunity and we do need the affordable housing and the social housing.

"Unfortunately it's in the green belt and the local plan hasn't been determined."

She said the application should go back through the local plan process.