The expansion of an industrial estate near Maldon has been green-lit by District Councillors, despite earlier concerns over noise disturbance for nearby residents.

Four new warehouses for storage and distribution will be built at Blackwater Trading Estate, Heybridge, over an area of 10,474 square meters.

Maldon District Councillors were told the noise generated by the estate would not increase after the expansion.

It will also be reducing its hours of operation from 24 hours a day to 7am until 11pm, according to a council report.

The central area planning committee met last night (July 27) to discuss the proposals by Aquila EHS Ltd, voting to grant outline permission for the expansion.

The committee had previously voted to delay the application, partly to investigate the possibility of an acoustic barrier to protect neighbours in a residential area on the opposite side of Heybridge Creek.

But the council's environmental health officer was re-consulted after the deferral and said residents in Battle Rise and Sadds Wharf were unlikely to be impacted, according to a noise impact assessment.

They said: "Based on the findings of the assessment and reduction in operational hours from 24/7 to 7am to 11pm, it would not be reasonable or justifiable to require an attenuation barrier or acoustically designed units in this situation."

Despite this, some committee members remained concerned about the potential for noise, with Councillor Anne Beale (Con, Heybridge East) criticising the layout of the expansion.

She said: "If those buildings had been turned round like all of the other buildings on that site which are facing internally, we wouldn't have had all the issues with the noise.

"You've got all the noise coming from the lorries and everything else directly over to Sadds Wharf.

"It's not going to be such an issue now for Battle Rise, but to me they've been laid out wrong."

"...to me they've been laid out wrong." Councillor Anne Beale

An officer at the meeting said the Environment Agency requested there be a 20 metre gap between the warehouses and flood defences against Heybridge Creek, so maintenance work can be carried out, and that this has influenced the layout.

Much of the proposed storage and distribution work will also be carried out inside the new warehouses, containing the noise.

Councillor Christopher Swain (Independent Group, Maldon East) said: "The combination of working inside and limited hours would seem to me that the noise level may actually be less."

Another reason for deferral was to explore the possibility of improving a footpath Heybridge Creek.

However, according to the report this land is not owned by the applicant and therefore outside its control, meaning improvement will have to be secured through a section 106 agreement, a tax levied on developers.