A PLANNING inquiry into controversial plans for an extra 100 homes in St Osyth will go before a Government inspector in January.

The owners of St Osyth Priory appealed against decisions to reject controversial proposals for more than 100 extra homes in the village earlier this year.

The Sargeant family submitted a host of applications as part of plans to raise money to restore the historic monument.

Tendring Council’s planning committee passed just two of the nine planning applications in January, including 190 new homes on the Wellwick site, off Colchester Road.

But the Sargeant family launched an appeal in an effort to overturn the decisions and an inquiry will now take place.

A pre-inquiry meeting took place in Weeley on Monday with representatives of the Sargeant family, Tendring Council, English Heritage, St Osyth Parish Council and Save Our St Osyth campaigners.

It is understood the Sargeant family has requested the inspector visits other sites that their family have restored, including the King Edward VII Hospital in Midhurst, Kent, and Bentley Priory in Stanmore, Middlesex.

Save Our St Osyth is hosting an information day for residents at St Osyth village hall on November 15 and at Dumont Hall, Point Clear, on November 22, from 10am to 3pm.

The inquiry is expected to take place at Clacton’s Princes Theatre, starting from January 13.