A controversial housing scheme to fund repairs to St Osyth Priory comes before councillors tomorrow (tue 6pm).

The scheme from the Sargent Family has faced bitter wrangling over the years, with much objection from nearby residents.

Save St Osyth campaigners are expected to attend tomorrow 6pm meeting of Tendring Council’s planning committee.

The latest plans for 89 homes, submitted in April, are smaller than earlier plans and come in two parts.

The first is to demolish the existing 7 Mill Street and create 72 two, three and four-bedroom houses plus associated roads, garages, car parking and landscaping.

The second application is to build 17 homes for residential and holiday accommodation, with the restoration of park landscape, and the ‘re-grading’ of 9 hectares of land.

The Sargeants want to build the homes to help generate enough money to repair the historic 11th century priory, which is falling into disrepair.

A council report said the project was due to be determined by Tendring Council’s planning committee on September 7.

Since it wasn’t, the Sargeants have appealed to the Secretary of State against non-determination.

This means the application will be settled by the Planning Inspectorate, with a public inquiry into the proposals due in November.

The council report said Tendring Council was unable to decide the application within the statutory framework as it needed extra information from the applicants, which arrived “albeit too late.”

Information concerning the finances of the scheme were “opaque and difficult to follow,” it said.

The report said councillors have to decide whether or not they would have granted the application.

If they would have granted the application, the Sargeants have said they would be willing to withdraw their appeal against their current plans and a larger scheme submitted in 2011, with no claims for cost.

However, councillors are recommended to say they would have refused the application, meaning the appeal would proceed that the benefits of the scheme do not outweigh its disadvantages. But officers would seek to negotiate “a more acceptable” solution.

“The committee should note that this proposal is very contentious with a long history of local objection to the concept of enabling development around the Priory. The current application has attracted around 170 objections but enabling development proposals have generated hundreds of objections historically and there remains strong resistance locally,” the report continued.

A controversial housing scheme to fund repairs to St Osyth Priory comes before councillors tomorrow (tue 6pm).

The scheme from the Sargent Family has faced bitter wrangling over the years, with much objection from nearby residents.

Save St Osyth campaigners are expected to attend tomorrow 6pm meeting of Tendring Council’s planning committee.

The latest plans for 89 homes, submitted in April, are smaller than earlier plans and come in two parts.

The first is to demolish the existing 7 Mill Street and create 72 two, three and four-bedroom houses plus associated roads, garages, car parking and landscaping.

The second application is to build 17 homes for residential and holiday accommodation, with the restoration of park landscape, and the ‘re-grading’ of 9 hectares of land.

The Sargeants want to build the homes to help generate enough money to repair the historic 11th century priory, which is falling into disrepair.

A council report said the project was due to be determined by Tendring Council’s planning committee on September 7.

Since it wasn’t, the Sargeants have appealed to the Secretary of State against non-determination.

This means the application will be settled by the Planning Inspectorate, with a public inquiry into the proposals due in November.

The council report said Tendring Council was unable to decide the application within the statutory framework as it needed extra information from the applicants, which arrived “albeit too late.”

Information concerning the finances of the scheme were “opaque and difficult to follow,” it said.

The report said councillors have to decide whether or not they would have granted the application.

If they would have granted the application, the Sargeants have said they would be willing to withdraw their appeal against their current plans and a larger scheme submitted in 2011, with no claims for cost.

However, councillors are recommended to say they would have refused the application, meaning the appeal would proceed that the benefits of the scheme do not outweigh its disadvantages. But officers would seek to negotiate “a more acceptable” solution.

“The committee should note that this proposal is very contentious with a long history of local objection to the concept of enabling development around the Priory. The current application has attracted around 170 objections but enabling development proposals have generated hundreds of objections historically and there remains strong resistance locally,” the report continued.