8:00 am, May 21, 2022
A used car dealership in Essex says it has no immediate plans to close despite lodging a bid to build 20 new homes on the site of its showroom.
Perkins Garages, near Braintree, said it was simply ‘exploring potential options’ after outline proposals were made to the local council.
Bosses say they currently have no plans to leave the site, which they have occupied since 2005, and they are just ‘assessing the feasibility’ of building on the land.
The showroom specialises in selling used Fords, Subarus and MGs and the plans may never materialise, reports the Braintree and Witham Times.
However, the proposals do go into detail on what the development would look like, with new 20 homes at the centre.
The properties would be a mixture of terraced, detached, and semi-detached homes, around 40 per cent of which would be affordable housing.
It also plans that every home would come with its own parking space.
The planning application says: ‘The application site is in a sustainable location as part of the settlement of Rayne and is a brownfield site that is unsuitable for continued or alternative commercial uses due to its relationship with neighbouring dwellings.
‘There are footpaths and bus stops directly outside of the site, providing ready access to facilities and services to Rayne and Braintree by non-car means.
‘The key benefit would be the provision of additional housing in a sustainable and accessible location.
‘The proposal would have no adverse impacts on residential amenity, wildlife and biodiversity, flood risk or any other planning consideration.
‘The visual impact of the development in the wider landscape would be minimal, and the intrinsic beauty of the countryside would be respected and preserved.
‘The only “harm” would be that the site is technically outside of the out-of-date envelope of a settlement close to one of the main towns of the district.
