The former Well House care home was demolished without official approval for the work, Brightlingsea Info has discovered.
Tendring District Council (TDC) planners should have received a demolition “Method Statement” from the owner of the Chestnut Way site before the building was knocked down.
No statement was submitted – and TDC has now admitted that it was unaware of the demolition until Brightlingsea Info made enquiries about the 1.1 acre site following its appearance on the market for an undisclosed sum.
A TDC spokesman said: “While the demolition should not have taken place without approval of the method statement – which would constitute a technical breach of planning conditions – a review of the matter found it would not be prudent, in this particular instance, to take further enforcement action at this time.”
The requirement to have a demolition plan approved in writing was included in the outline planning permission for a new 64-bed care home, granted in the summer of 2022 to Westcliff-based Essex County Care.
TDC says it informed nearby residents and relevant water and power service providers about the fact that demolition was imminent,
Essex County Care closed Well House in 2018, claming that it had “excessively high” energy costs and needed more than £2m to modernise it. An attempt was made to sell the site in 2020, after mature trees around the home were felled. The plans for a replacement home appeared after that.
The cleared site is being offered for sale by London-based agents Blue Alpine. Although the sales brochure says that the land has “planning approved for erection of a 64-bed residential care home”, TDC confirmed that the planning permission remains in outline form only.
The outline permission also states that the development in question can only be used as a residential care home. If – as is believed locally – a covenant on the site exists that stipulates care home use, this can only be confirmed by viewing the site’s title deeds.
