Felsted Parish Council has objected to an application on our Parish boundary with Rayne, for 150 new houses. 19/01326/OUT.

Our concern centres on the traffic impact, particularly on Willows Green, from both construction traffic, for which Willows Green is the most likely access route for large lorries, and ongoing traffic congestion, for which a Highways Assessment has not been completed.

The application was refused by Braintree District Council, but has now gone to appeal.

We thank Rayne PC for helping us in providing the following information.

In light of the Covid 19 outbreak, the Planning Inspectorate has advised that the appeal is still going ahead. However, it will now be heard by Inspector Frances Mahoney via a virtual planning inquiry starting 15th June 2020 and will proceed possibly for a further 7 days. A timetable of events will be released and shared soon.

MS Teams will be the online platform used and residents will be able to watch proceedings via this method, IF they have registered a request to do so. We will share details of how to do this here, once this information is available.

Rayne Parish Council will be represented at most if not all of these virtual sessions. Felsted Parish Council will be represented at key sessions. The Inspector has given us the right to question the Appellant on matters that concern us and our Village. To keep ‘the flow’ of the inquiry and to prevent many people stating the  same thing over and over again, the Inspector has asked the Parish Council to coordinate the gathering of residents’ views, as they would like them expressed and that a representative of the parish council then delivers those expressed views during the hearing (whether it be in objection or support of the development).

If you wish to state your views regarding the proposed development please send them to Cllr Bennett (ab.felstedpc@gmail.com), no later than 5th June.

The appeal documents can be found on BDC’s planning portal: https://www.braintree.gov.uk/ search for 20/00022/NONDET

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