PLANS for nine detached homes in a "back garden" where 80 Essex trees were illegally cut down have been rejected at a planning meeting last week. P and PR Property Developments Limited had planned the three- and four-bedroom properties at the site off Castledon Road, Wickford.

But worried local councillors and residents raised concerns about the "back garden development" at a Basildon Borough Council meeting on April 22, in particular about the 80 trees on the site that were cut down.

In 2019, 80 trees, some of which were mature oak trees up to 100 years old, were cut down and burnt, without a license from the Forestry Commission, who later issued a notice for the trees to be replaced. Basildon Borough Council also issued a tree preservation notice protecting the remaining 20 trees at the site. The trees were supposedly removed after an earlier plan for a new home at the site was agreed upon, the planning meeting was told last week.

Basildon Borough Council's planning committee heard from local resident Steve Nolder at the meeting. Mr Holder asked if the plans for the homes would remove the remaining trees, adding that doing so would "significantly reduce the canopy cover and degrade the woodland value habitat even further."

Graham Ellis, from Wickford Town Council, said the new authority has concerns around the history of the site. He told the meeting: "This site would be better described as a wildlife corridor than infill land. I would urge the planners to reject the plan as unsuitable for development, and look unfavourably on the illegal felling that took place."

The councillors unanimously voted to refuse the plans for the homes at the site.