Maldon District Council (MDC) has refused planning permission for the a large-scale extension of Beckingham Business Park.

Members of the authority's North West Area Planning Committee voted to turn down the proposal for 13 new industrial and business units, an office block and a café at Beckingham Business Park in Beckingham Street, Tolleshunt Major, at a meeting on Wednesday (16 December).

It is likely that the applicant will appeal the decision and that the Planning Inspectorate will have the final say.

There were 38 letters of objection from nearby residents lodged with the council against the plans.

All three of the parish councils consulted over the application – Tolleshunt Major Parish Council, Little Totham Parish Council and Tolleshunt D'Arcy Parish Council recommended refusal, too.

However, MDC's planning officers had recommended approval on the grounds that the development is in line with the district's Local Development Plan (LDP), as the proposed extension would sit on land earmarked for employment use.

Speaking at the meeting, Conservative Councillor Mark Durham, ward member for Wickham Bishops and Woodham, said: "Beckingham Business Park has been a big contributor to my inbox over the last few years.

"I think I've been provided with such a variety of evidence of parking on the pavements outside residential properties and on the road outside the business park – and the increased number of HGVs – that I am going to move away from my normal stance of supporting everything in the LDP."

Independent Councillor Richard Siddall, proposed that the application should be refused on the grounds of its "impact on the character of the area and its intrinsic beauty", due to the scale, bulk and density of the design.

He said: "The silver-grey walls are inappropriate for a development built in green fields. It will take 30 years for any trees to screen the development."

Cllr Siddall also made reference to the lack of sustainable transport provision for a new development.

However, Conservative Councillor Sue White, who abstained from the vote against the plans, said: "We're going to lose at appeal."

Application details

The application site is bounded by the existing business park to the north and agricultural fields to the three remaining sides.

Part of the 1.35 hectares of land earmarked for the new section of business park previously housed three large fruit washing drums, the concrete bases of which remain on the site. The rest of the land is currently an agricultural field.

An area within the proposals is allocated to drainage and reducing any ecological impact by providing a pond and a new wild flower and wildlife meadow, as well as planting new native trees.

Objections to the plans

However, residents of the villages neighbouring the area are concerned about numerous issues, including traffic and the environmental and visual impact of the proposed buildings.

One objector wrote: "These buildings are imposing and will have a negative impact on our natural environment. They will be seen from the surrounding countryside as far as Little Totham."

Another said: "The roads are not built for this level of traffic and residents have already had to put up with the volume of current heavy traffic entering the business park."

And another added: "Given the current pandemic and time of uncertainty I do not feel that there is any need to take more green fields to build units, café or parking spaces."