There were two more applications on Thursday night that had members of the public speaking.
The first was an application to build two flats at Harper Way in Rayleigh, near the Travellers Joy pub. One of the neighbours , Mr Len Wildman ,made an emotional speech about how it would affect the little close he lives in – there would be too much traffic for an already overcrowded area, and it was overdevelopment of a small site. It was cause him a loss of privacy.
The ward members, Chris and June Lumley moved refusal of this scheme, on the grounds of overdevelopment, loss of residential amenity , the proposed parking spaces being too small for most cars to actually park there, and being out of keeping with the street scene. Chris Black and Ron Oatham spoke to back up what the Lumleys had said, and then Tory leader Terry Cutmore helpfully spoke as well, saying “the previous speakers are absolutely right”.
The end result was that Chris and June won the vote easily, although the Chairman of the committee , Simon Smith, voted the other way.
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The other application with public speaking was for two houses in the unmade street Hillview Road near Rayleigh Mount. The applicants agent spoke in favour of allowing it, whereas local resident and expert on the Mount Michael Stone spoke against. Mr Stones’ comments seemed to have a big impact on the committee. Local member John Pullen moved refusal, and won the vote by a fairly comfortable margin.