FURIOUS villagers are outraged one of their most beautiful green spaces will be “ruined” by homes after an inspector’s ruling.

More than 160 objections were sent to Tendring Council in a bid to stop the development of 67 homes in Green Lane, Mistley.

The council rejected the application last April after it was decided the development would erode the green gap between Mistley and Manningtree and harm the conservation area.

But the developer appealed the decision and this week an inspector officially overturned it.

In his decision, the inspector said the site did not contribute to the conservation area and so development on it would not harm the area.

He also ruled the visual impact would not harm the surrounding countryside.

But, the inspector did reject an argument made by the developer that Tendring Council could not demonstrate a five-year supply of housing, saying this was not true.

A Tendring Council spokesperson said: “Tendring Council is disappointed with the decision of the planning inspector, particularly as he appears to have gone with an ‘on balance’ decision rather than finding that the council made any errors in its judgement of the application.

“The council is now looking at potential next steps with regards to the application.”

Residents campaigned against the homes before the outline planning application was even submitted.

A new planning application will need to be submitted to Tendring Council for finer details of the development, except access and layout which formed part of the outline proposals, before any building can begin.

For the full article see Friday's Harwich and Manningtree Standard