Plans rejected for Romford farm redevelopment

Cheers rang out as councillors voted emphatically against the redevelopment of a farm in Romford.

Residents were out in force to oppose plans for building work on the green belt land site in Three Horseshoes Farm, North Road.

They would see the current buildings demolished and replaced by five houses.

A petition was started by Cllr Denis O’Flynn containing 79 signatures and 12 letters of objection to the plans due to the height and light problems they would bring.

He was joined by Labour leader Cllr Keith Darvill at the meeting, where they both spoke to the committee about issues surrounding the application.

Cllr O’Flynn said the attraction of the area, a “condensed little England”, will be ruined if building goes ahead.

“These will ruin the rural character of the locality,” he claimed,

“It will harm the outlook from neighbouring properties and one of the main reasons why people have purchased their properties in the last few years is because they thought it was a sound investment.”

“The attraction of this investment will disappear if the application is granted.”

Cllr Darvill received a round of applause for his speech which suggested the council do “all it can” to keep this area.

And cheers were heard as the council voted unanimously to reject the application – which will now go to the appeal process.