Plans to construct two self-build homes on land off Church Road have been turned down by Tendring District Council planners.
The joint owners of the land known as Vicarage Field, Messrs Maunton and Carter, wanted to build the custom detached homes for their own use.
However, planners said that the houses would have a “demonstrably harmful impact upon the character and undeveloped nature” of the land, which is within the Coastal Protection Belt.
“There are open and spacious views looking from the site westwards and the site also acts as a ‘soft’ transition from the open land to the west and the settlement of Brightlingsea to the east,” added planners. “There is not a compelling functional or operational requirement to place the development in this location.”
According to their planning statement, the applicants had wanted to develop seven plots on the land, selling five of them to help fund the building of their own properties. But feedback from planners suggested that this scheme would not be approved, so the applicants’ plans were scaled back.
Brightlingsea Town Council objected, saying the houses would fall outside the Settlement Development Boundary. The owners of the nearby Grade II listed house called Greythorpe highlighted a “potential loss of outlook” and heritage experts at Essex County Council said “there would be a degree of harm due to the potential for interrupting the visual relationship between Greythorpe and Grade I listed church of All Saints”.
Essex Highways raised initial objections over visibility from the access road to Church Road but, after the plans were amended to move a hedge further back from the road, were happy with the layout.
