275-home mixed-use development at Land West Of The Cemetery, London Road, Maldon

“Application Number 25/00578/OUTM Location Land West of the Cemetery, London Road, Maldon Proposal Outline application with all matters reserved, except for access, for the erection of up to 275 residential units including affordable housing, land for a children's nursery (Class E), 1.8ha of land for an extension to Maldon Cemetery, drainage works, landscaping, vehicular access to the A414, pedestrian/cycle access to Spital Road and London Road, and associated infrastructure…”

“APPROVE subject to the applicant entering into a legal agreement pursuant to Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 (as amended) to secure the planning obligations and subject to conditions as detailed in Section 8.”

“The application site lies to the west of Maldon and measures approximately 22 hectares in area. The site is currently used for agriculture and is bordered by a covered agricultural reservoir, Maldon Cemetery and London Road to the north. To the south is Maldon Hall Farm which consists of a number of dwellings set in a farmstead style layout. To the east of the site lies the A414. The west is characterised mainly by open countryside.”

“The site is also located in close proximity to a number of Grade II listed buildings. Headlands Barn, a Grade II listed building immediately to the south of the application site, would be the most impacted by the development. Other Grade II listed buildings to the south include Maldon Hall, Maldon Wycke and the granary to the north of Maldon Wycke.”

“On 22 December 2015 an Outline application (14/01106/OUT) for a mixed-use development comprising of up to 340 dwellings, community health facilities, Class A1 retail, community land, public open space, landscaping, highway works, and associated works was refused by the Council for the following reasons:”

“The application site has also been subject to Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Screening Opinions in the past. Whilst the Screening Opinion undertaken in 2014 (14/00236/SCR) found that a mixed-use development on the site would require an Environmental Statement (ES), a Screening Opinion undertaken in 2023 (23/00180/SCR) deemed that a development more akin to the size and scope of this application would not be subject to an ES.”

“There are social benefits as a result of the proposed development. The proposal would provide 275 new homes of which 40% would be affordable, thus it would make a significant contribution to the 5YHLS and help to address the shortfall in affordable housing.”

“There would be less than substantial harm to Headlands Barn a Grade II listed building, and limited harm to Maldon Cemetery, a locally listed heritage asset, which would be outweighed by the public benefits of the scheme. Therefore. Paragraph 11d) is triggered. The development would result in harm to the landscape character of the area, but the harm would be fairly localised to the west of the site.”

“In response to a further question regarding the impact of the development on the landscape, character and countryside setting of Maldon, the Development Management Team Manager advised that Officers were not suggesting that there would not be any harm, it was acknowledged that there would be some impact on the land. However, when reviewing these against the planning benefits Officers were of the view that this wouldn’t constitute a reason for refusal.”

“The Chairperson referred to the Constitutional Brake and that the Committee would need to vote on what it was minded to do at this point, unless Officers were content that the could use the reasons for refusal already stated. The Director of Place, Planning and Growth provided a summary of the discussions that had taken place and Members’ concerns regarding this application.”

“The Chairperson then asked Members for a show of hands to confirm if the Committee was minded to go against the Officer recommendation and vote for refusal. Upon a show of hands being taken, the Chairperson advised that the majority of Members had indicated they were minded to refuse the application. She advised that the Constitutional Brake would therefore be invoked.”

“The Director of Place, Planning and Growth provided some further guidance in respect of applying the Constitutional Brake and the need to consider appropriate reasons for refusal that linked to the Local Plan and NPPF. In response to a point of clarity the Director of Legal and Governance (Monitoring Officer) advised that when the application came back to the Committee just the grounds for refusal would be discussed, it would not be an opportunity to re-examine the debate.”

“RESOLVED that the Constitutional Brake Clause be applied, and consideration of this application is therefore DEFERRED to a future meeting of the District Planning Committee, time and date to be confirmed.”