Decision makers in Tendring may need more training on planning law after taxpayers had to cover a bill of more than £100,000 due to a "bad committee decision". Tendring Council has to pay £101,886.00 to Kelsworth Limited after a planning application for the development of 180 homes on the site of nursery buildings in St Johns Road, Clacton, was overturned by the planning inspectorate.

Councillor Carlo Guglielmi told Tendring cabinet on November 10 that the decision to refuse the application showed councillors needed more training on planning. The plans were initially turned down by Tending District Council's planning committee on May 18 2022 citing concerns about the impact of noise, vibration and light on nearby homes. However, the developers, Kelsworth Ltd, challenged the council's decision in an appeal.

Planning Inspector Benjamin Webb ruled in the developer's favour on March 22 2023 citing the council's lack of consistency in decision-making, as evidenced by their previous acceptance of a similar development on the same site in 2020 which utilised the same proposed access.

He also highlighted the council's failure to provide a clear explanation or justification for a change in their approach to assessment, specifically regarding concerns related to light, vibration, and noise compared to the previous scheme and the appeal scheme.

Councillor Guglielmi said: "Let's not beat about the bush. This cost came about because of a bad committee decision and I think the sooner we get training to members of the committee to drive into their minds while the democratic process should not be tampered with, that decision-making, especially in planning, this gives you a really good example of what to take into consideration and what not to take into consideration."

Deputy chief executive and monitoring officer at Tendring District Council said: "We may have to look at doing some more training. However, members are not allowed to sit on that committee unless they have been trained. But you can only take horses to water."

Councillor Andy Baker, cabinet portfolio holder for housing and planning, said: "It is clearly regrettable the inspector overturned the council's decision and felt it necessary to award costs against us.

"Since the adoption of the council's local plan, we have seen a considerable drop in the number of speculative planning applications being submitted and the number of council decisions on major applications being overturned in appeal.

"That said, appeal and cost decisions like these remind us that when planning proposals do accord with the local plan there is an expectation within law and national planning policy that those proposals should be approved unless there are material considerations that can be justified with evidence to suggest otherwise."