PLANS to build stables on greenbelt land on Canvey have been rejected.

Permission Homes applied to Castle Point Council to build a stable block with the change of use of land for the keeping of horses on Canvey’s Dutch Village, off Canvey Road, Canvey.

The council refused the plans on grounds of greenbelt destruction and flooding concerns.

The officers report stated: “The proposal seeks to provide a stable facility within flood zone three, an area identified at risk of flooding.

“There are considered to be sequentially preferable sites available for the proposed

development in areas with a lower probability of flooding, and the proposal does not meet the requirements of the sequential test.

“The proposal is therefore contrary to government guidance contained within the National Planning Policy Framework and Planning Practice Guidance.”

Persimmon Homes withdrew a controversial bid to build 275 homes on the site in 2017, after a huge public backlash.

Instead the developers then submitted an application for a stable block on the land east of Canvey Road, which was thrown out by Castle Point Council in May last year.

Then in November, the housing company submitted an identical application for a set of stables on the land, which if approved would also change the use of the land from green belt for the keeping of horses.

Canvey Green Belt Campaign Group said they feared Persimmon Homes still had plans for houses on the island.

The land has not been used for stable or keeping horses previously.

When the application was submitted group chairman Graham Bracci posted: “Persimmon seem to have big housing development plans for Canvey Island Green Belt.

“However, they appear happy to play the long game, as they again propose a stable block for horses on the cornfields, as their first stage approach to their aims. This will include the ‘change of use of land’ as it is green belt. Their application stresses the stables will be ‘built development’.” It is feared if approved this makes building homes easier to get through planning committees.