A PLANNING application to turn Mistley Place Park animal rescue and petting zoo into a housing estate and community park has been withdrawn.

After a backlash from residents over the proposals, Montague Asset Management has withdrawn its proposals to enable further public consultation to take place.

The proposed development included a new lakeside café and car park; dredging and regrading of the existing lake; improvements to the woodland and meadows and a resource area for local school children.

But to fund the development of the park, the company said 78 houses would be built on part of the land.

A spokesperson from Montague Asset Management said: “We were proposing a very high quality community park and the gifting of three houses to provide long term income to maintain it – in essence a Rolls Royce solution which was expensive and led to the need for a significant number of houses.

“Before the application was submitted we held two public meetings in Mistley Church Hall which were attended by over 200 local residents and 67% showed support or strong support for the proposal. However since the application has been submitted very strong views have been expressed by other members of the community so by withdrawing the application it gives time to consider other ways forward that still create a community park. One such approach has been made by Mistley Parish Council which has stepped forward with some alternative ideas which are interesting and need to be explored further.

“From the outset we saw this is a community project, and it still is. We will be setting up a series of workshops to explore the wide variety of views that have been expressed through the planning application process and public consultations to date.”