THEYDON BOIS: Developer bids to overturn car park decision (From East London and West Essex Guardian Series)

THEYDON BOIS: Developer bids to overturn car park decision

8:00am Saturday 2nd July 2011 in Epping Forest News By Tom Porter

A DEVELOPER is attempting to overturn a decision blocking plans to build a 179 space car park in Green Belt land.

Developers Parkeng submitted revised plans in October last year to build a car park near Theydon Bois tube station after withdrawing their original plans for a 350 space car park.

Residents fought the application for site of the Old Foresters Club off Abridge Road, claiming that the car park would cause a massive increase in traffic through Theydon Bois and scar the Green Belt.

After receiving objections to the plans from over 200 residents, Epping Forest District Council rejected the application in December 2010.

Now Parkeng have appealed to the Planning Inspectorate in a bid to overturn the decision.

A spokeswoman for the Theydon Bois Action group, who campaigned against the plans, said: “We are not in the least surprised with the decision by Parkeng to appeal.

“The developer seems hell bent on compromising the green belt in Theydon Bois with a variety of speculative applications, all of which have been totally unacceptable, inappropriate and only serve to set a precedent to ruin our local environment.”

Mike Emmett, chairman of the South Theydon Bois Resident’s Group, who lives in Abridge Road, said: “‘The Abridge Road is inarguably dangerous, there are no street lights, there are scant pavement and the traffic increase will only endanger more people.”

Forest Drive resident Jenny Creswell said: “As a resident of Forest Drive, the thought of hundreds of cars coming and going behind my back garden is just unthinkable. It will no doubt have a serious impact on the environment as well as the noise we will have to endure early morning through to late at night.”

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