Maldon Town Council has voted to recommend refusal of the eighth application since 1994 to build a home on the land adjacent to 7 Granger Avenue.

Members of the town council's planning committee recommended refusal of planning permission yesterday (Monday, 9 August), on the grounds that the proposal's scale, bulk and design would form a "cramped, incongruous development, out of character with the street scene and resulting in overdevelopment of the site".

The application involves the erection of a two-storey three-bedroom house on the land adjacent to 7 Granger Avenue, which is currently scrubland.

The debate centred on the conservation value of the current site. Councillor Tony Shrimpton said: "I think that this is a derelict piece of land that needs to have something done to it."

Councillor Flo Shaughnessy replied: "I don't think it's a derelict piece of land. I think it's a habitat."

The application is the eighth of its kind since 1994 to propose building at least one extra dwelling on the land adjacent to 7 Granger Avenue.

The previous seven applications have all been refused by Maldon District Council. The most recent refusal was in April this year, when the council refused planning permission for the erection of a pair of semi-detached dwellings on the plot.

The town council also looked at concerns from residents of Orchard Road about the latest application for the site.

Objecting to the plans, one resident said: "The build, if approved, will further exacerbate the problem of congestion in Granger Avenue and the surrounding suburb from vehicles, and will increase the already significant risk to pedestrians from traffic."

The resident continued: "In addition, the proposed build would necessitate the destruction of wildlife habitat, both within the site itself and paving over much of what is currently a grass verge, in an age when wildlife habitat is disappearing fast."

Councillor Martin Harvey, committee chairman, said: "My concern is residents from Orchard Road."

Councillor David Ogg, the town mayor, said: "All the other houses are touching eachother, so it's hardly cramped."

Councillor Shrimpton's proposal to recommend approval of the application, seconded by Councillor Ogg, was voted against by four councillors to two.

The town council therefore recommended refusal of the application. The final decision will be made by Maldon District Council.