PLANS to replace a village hall, library and members club are poised for rejection by the council.

On October 12, 2017 Chigwell Parish Council applied for outline planning permission to demolish Victory Hall, Chigwell Members Club and the library.

In its place and on a patch of land stretching further eastwards would stand new parish council offices, a multi-use hall, a replacement members club and library and a 86 space car park.

While the scheme found support from the Members Club it proved less popular in the village at large, with 79 letters of objection compared to two in support sent to Epping Forest District Council (EFDC).

The parish council faced its first obstacle when the application was reported to an EFDC planning committee on February 21 with a recommendation of refusal.

Although committee members voted to make no decision following a debate, officer Sukhi Dhadwar has advised councillors sitting on next Wednesday's District Development Management Committee to turn down the plans.

Ms Dhadwar wrote: "The proposal would result in a significant reduction in the openness of the Green Belt and would undermine the purpose of including land within it.

"Notwithstanding the lack of information submitted in relation to the height, scale, layout and appearance of the proposed development. Given the number of uses proposed and their location it is likely to be an incongruous and dominant feature which will be visible from a number of long views of the site.

"It will therefore seriously undermine the distinctive natural landscape character of this edge of settlement location."

EFDC councillors could go against the officer's advice however, if they are convinced by the parish council's argument.

In the application documents, it is argued the location - on Green Belt land owned by the parish council - is in the centre of Chigwell and accessible by public transport.

It also states the proposal would prevent the displacement of users of Victory Hall and Chigwell Social Club during construction since temporary alternative locations could not be found.