Fresh plans have been submitted for housing and holiday homes in the grounds of the historic St Osyth Priory.

The latest proposals from the Sargeant family follow years of fighting for various housing schemes, which they say are vital to fund a restoration of the 11th century priory and related buildings.

Two separate full applications have now been submitted to Tendring District Council for 89 homes in total.

They replace earlier plans for 142 houses and flats, a visitor centre and a function room on the priory estate.

One application is to demolish the existing 7 Mill Street and create 72 two, three, and four-bedroomed houses. The other is to erect 17 homes for use as residential and holiday homes.

The detailed full applications together run to several hundred pages and are posted on the Tendring Council website, which is seeking public comment on the proposals.

“The St Osyth Priory is among the most important historic sites in England and after a century of neglect the buildings and Park are in an extremely fragile and poor state, although the family via grants and investment have started to reverse the trend, there remains a mountain to climb,” it said.

“This application includes a package of enabling development proposals being put forward as envisaged in the Local Plan in order to generate part of the funds needed for the conservation of the priory buildings and historic landscape.

“Without these substantial sums that these and other proposals generate to fund the much needed repair, renewal, conversion and restoration works some of all the buildings, irreplaceable assets will inevitably decay beyond repair and would then be lost to all. A number of structures have required scaffolding to stop their collapse,” it said.

The applications speak of a “Conservation Deficit” of around £35million, which means the cost of restoring the existing buildings will cost £35 million more than the increase in the value of the properties such work would bring.

Thus, the homes and their sales are needed to generate the income to pay for such works.

The application also said the schemes would help Tendring Council meet its rural and economic regeneration and tourism polices.

This was something agreed with the council during a 2015 public inquiry into earlier proposals for development at the site.

Tendring Council had earlier refused the 142-home scheme, which went to appeal and was upheld.

“A second inquiry is likely in Autumn/Winter 2016. However, this application is a pragmatic response to the current situation that seeks to avoid the need for a second inquiry or at worst narrow the issues that exist so the second inquiry can be as efficient as possible and best use of public resources as well as reduce the size of the Conservation Deficit, which is already significant and growing,” the applications also said.

Former leader of the Save the Priory group Phyll Hendy said she still opposed the latest plans accusing the family of “trying every avenue” and “pre-empting” the planning enquiry expected later this year.

Miss Hendy said there have been several open days about the current plans at the park with another taking place this Saturday.

She expected the latest proposals would not be approved, saying there is no need for housing in the village.

“The plans cannot save the priory. The profit from it will be just a drop in the ocean,” commented the local history recorder.

Instead, the priory needed a “properly set up trust” to raise funds and that would be something she would support.