A monastic community of men and women based in the Maldon district has won its bid to build craft workshops on its grounds.

The Monastery of St John the Baptist, on Rectory Road in Tolleshunt Knights, plans to use the three log cabins as workshops for crafting activities and to aid ongoing works on the monastery buildings.

In a statement submitted with the application, the monastery said: "One building will be used for designing and making ceramic mosaics - for internal wall decoration - and will generally be utilised during the summer months.

"The other two buildings will be used as workshops or stores in connection with the ongoing maintenance and repair of the monastery buildings and estate, which is undertaken by members of the community."

The monastery has already built the workshop for making ceramic mosaics and laid the subbase for the other two workshops, but paused construction while waiting for planning approval.

Granting planning permission for the works, officers at Maldon District Council said the monastery must also ensure it has "any necessary approvals under the building regulations for the development".

The monastery was founded in 1959 by monk Sophrony Sakharov, and belongs to the Eastern Orthodox Christian Church.

It is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.

Once fully completed, the workshops will be located on land northeast of the nuns' quarters on the site.

They will only be used by the onsite monastic community and not by the public.