PROPOSALS for an international music school could still go ahead despite planning bosses rejecting an initial application.

Tendring Council has promised to continue talks with the applicant regarding his plans for the former magistrates’ court on Main Road in Dovercourt which are currently described as fundamentally flawed.

The council’s member for planning Carlo Guglielmi said: “The main reason why the application was refused by our planning officers was because the proposal was for residential use only.

“It may well be that the intention was to set up a music school in the future but that was certainly not the proposal on the table.

“A change of use to a house would represent a loss of a community facility and potential business premises and therefore it needed to be refused under the policies of the Local Plan.”

Cllr Guglielmi believes the application would have been viewed much more favourably if had been entered as a mix of community and employment use with an additional residential annexe.