At the Development Committee last night, Cogent/Colonnades's latest attempt to develop land at Coombes Farm was unanimously rejected by Councillors. This is not the end of the matter, as Cogent is behind the legal challenge to the Council's core strategy which will be heard at a High Court hearing at the end of May. Interestingly, the Council was asked (by Cogent's legal team) to defer any decision of the planning application in view of the pending legal hearing. The Council refused to oblige. No one knows how the High Court hearing will go but new policy guidance issued this week by the Government, the National Planning Policy Framework, appears to support the Council's position. Local Authorities should have a Development Plan in place (Rochford has) and new development should be both sustainable and environmentally sensitive. Situated under the flight path (which is likely to change in the near future, to the detriment of any new development at Coombes) and adjacent to the ever expanding Purdeys Industrial estate surely does not meet that criteria. This is before you even consider the traffic and green belt impacts.
So, good news for the protection of Coombes Farm but with an eye to the next stage of the legal proceedings...
That is really good news. xx
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