Updated: 6th January 2025
PLANNING APPLICATION – ESSEX COUNTY COUNCIL
TOWN AND COUNTRY PLANNING ACT 1990 (as amended)
Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (England) Order 2015 (as amended) Notice
under Article 15
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT Essex County Council has received a planning application from Essex County Council Highway Authority for: Decommission of Churchfield Bridge and creation of a new access road to Churchfields via Church Road, together with footpath widening, swale and other ancillary works, at Land South of Great Yeldham Hall, Church Road, Great Yeldham, Essex, CO9 4PX – CC/BTE/62/24
Consultation on this application is open until 12th January 2025.
Link to the application and associated documents can be found at Essex County Council Planning at https://planning.essex.gov.uk/Planning/Display/CC/BTE/62/24#undefined
The Parish Council are considering the application and will respond accordingly. We encourage residents to make their representations or objections in respect of this application online at https://planning.essex.gov.uk or via email to mineralsandwastedm@essex.gov.uk quoting the application reference: CC/BTE/62/24 ; or in writing to the undersigned by 12 January 2025. Please include your name, full postal address and if possible email address. Any representations or objections received will be taken into account by Essex County Council with the result that they may be made available to the public. Parish Council’s response to the application GYPCResponsePlanningAppCC-BTE-62-24FINAL
Last Update: 5th December 2024
Members of the Parish Council (PC) met with Essex County Council (ECC) representatives on the 28th November 2024 and were informed that the Planning Application for the Church Road / Church fields Proposed Access Road and Priority Junction was submitted to Braintree Planning Authority by ECC week ending 22nd November 2024.
The Parish Council were surprised that this had happened without the PC’s prior knowledge or consultation. We have been informed that details of the application and scheme would be available at https://www.braintree.gov.uk/planning-building-control/view-comment-planning-applications, as of today the application has still not been uploaded. The revised drawings of plans are available to view, links below.
The Parish Council encourage residents to view the planning application and if you have any views on these plans to submit them through Braintree planning portal, link above.
In summary, from the public consultation held earlier in January 2024, the initial proposal was subject to a Road Safety Audit and scrutiny from the Planning Authority, Environment Agency, English Heritage and Utilities. The revisions below were made in line with audit and agency recommendations:
The following revisions have been made to the scheme based on The Essex Design Guide:
- 2 x Traffic Island/Bollards on A1017 Church Road, with additional warning signs and relocation of 30mph signage.
- Permanent access road of 5.5m width
- Modified swale and addition of hedgerow with 600mm high timber post at 1.2m centres, aligned with the proposed hedgerow. The timber posts are a temporary measure for 1 to 2 years until the hedgerow becomes established.
- Existing Public Rights of Way footpath to be resurfaced and widened to 2m.
- Relocation of vehicle turning head with parking restrictions/markings
- Play equipment remains in current location until such time the Parish Council can commence plans to refurbish the play equipment.
- Part of the meadow will be licensed and used by ECC for plant/access. The meadow will be out of use until the scheme has been completed. As part of the planning requirements ECC are required to include links to Biodiversity and have proposed that once works are completed the meadow will be seeded with EMP ‘meadow mixture’ for wetlands.
The Parish Council raised concerns with regards to the proposed area to be seeded with the meadow enhancement with regards to maintenance costs, the ongoing maintenance (cutting/collection of hay), the appearance of the meadow (grassland is not cut from spring through to August), restrictions on the meadow once it has been seeded and the timescale of restrictions. ECC have agreed to provide and forward further information. The Parish Council were concerned that the proposal may have an impact on proposed plans to relocate/refurbish the play equipment and increase costs in maintaining the meadow and what residents would like to see/use the meadow for.
Other factors that have implications on the delivery of the scheme:
- Transfer of Bowtells Meadow to the Parish Council, which is still in process.
- Amendment to the s106 Agreement in relation to the covenant that the meadow is to be kept as public recreation ground.
- Planning permission.
Programme start date: if all other issues have been resolved and permission granted, it is anticipated that works will commence May/June 2026.
The Parish Council has requested that a public consultation meeting is arranged to consult with residents about the scheme once details are finalised. ECC agreed and proposed a meeting in the spring 2025.
The Parish Council will endeavour to provide updates on the website once the information has been received.
Scheme for Church Road/Churchfields Access Road
Churchfields Bridge Landscape Enhancements
Last Update: 29th February 2024
At the Public Meeting held on the 18th January 2024, members of the public were informed about Essex Highways plans for reconstructing Churchfields Bridge and the draft proposal to create a new access road to connect “Churchfields” Road to Church Road.; with the existing bridge being used for pedestrian access only with vehicle access over the bridge restricted by installing lockable bollards.
The presentation can be downloaded at Chruchfields Bridge Scheme Summary and Church RD / Churchfields Proposed Access
PLEASE NOTE the presentation is a working copy and will be subject to changes as the scheme progresses. It is also intended to be printed at A1 or A0 so the scale of the text will likely be too small to read when printed on A3 or A4 paper but the PDF can be read in digital form using the zoom +/-
The Parish Council will be collating comments raised by residents into consideration moving forwards. These will be passed onto Essex Highways. If you wish to make comments please email to clerk@greatyeldhampc.co.uk by Friday 9th February 2024
List of comments, questions & issues raised at the meeting:
- The location of the proposed new turning circle appears to impact on the current playground area – is this correct? Concerns that the turning area will take up a large area of the Play Park and will end up being used as a parking area particularly for larger vehicles, will need parking restrictions to stop this.
- What lighting is proposed, for safety purposes, at the point that the proposed new Churchfields access meets Church Road?
- What does the current traffic data tell us about the use of Church Road, and has this been taken into account? It seems to be getting busier and busier.
- Linked to 3 above, there is also concern over how the proposed new road will impact on the farm entrance on the other side of the road (heavy plant machinery and lorries)
- There is currently a ‘concrete slab’ placed at the corner of Bowtell’s Meadow on Church Road to deter travelling groups from coming on to the site. How will ECC ensure that a deterrent remains in place during and after the proposed works?
- Can the proposed fence line be extended?
- The proposed 2 traffic islands (A1017) is close to the existing islands and the access to Nun’s Green – has this been taken account of in drawing up the plans?
- Will there be parking restrictions in the new road? Church Road is already very busy with school traffic and parking every morning and afternoon, and the new road is likely to face the same problem, which will impact on Churchfields residents.
- There will be a loss of parking space for the residents living in the bungalows.
Essex Highways will keep us updated on any major changes to the scheme, any proposal will need to comply with Planning, Environment Agency, Utilities and Road Safety Audit requirements. Updates will be uploaded to the website and further meetings.
