CONTROVERSY continues to surround a FOURTH plan to build a three-storey building in a quiet residential area.

Councillors will decide the fate of the application for the site to the rear of Woodford Green High Road at a meeting on Monday (November 30), after refusing three previous applications and their subsequent appeals.

Planning officers have advised the committee to grant permission for the application subject to a number of conditions. But residents living nearby have objected vehemently to the latest set of plans.

Steve Harris, of St Albans Crescent, has registered his objections to the proposals at every stage. He said that the effect of repeatedly having to wade into the planning process was time-consuming and feels residents are being ground down.

Mr Harris said: “It's been an ongoing battle for the last ten years or so. The number of applications to develop the rear of the property is tantamount to harassment. The current application presents the same problems as the previous ones.

“Previous plans for a two-storey building have been rejected and the presentation of the scheme with the added storey appears provocative and perverse.

“It's the developer's right to apply to develop the site and that should be protected, but what we are concerned about is the fact that each successive application is not substantially different from the last. I'd hope that the council would show a bit more consistency in their decisions.

“Each successive application has been substantially the same: the scale has been the same, the orientation has been the same, and architecturally they lack certain things.

“This drip-feed effect is very unfair on residents who constantly have to deal with the planning authorities. To be honest, there's only so much time you can take off work go to meetings or write in with objections.”

Sara Jack, of St Albans Road, said: “Refusing permission is the only mechanism to stop disturbance to neighbours. The plans and drawings are inaccurate and misrepresent the relationship between the site and its surroundings by drawing comparisons with unrelated and dissimilar developments in the vicinity.”

“The council is sleepwalking into the over-development of the area.”

The council's dismissals of the previous attempts to develop the site have rested on the fact that development would be 'overbearing' on its surrounding and the second and third floors of the development would overlook neighbours and impinge on their right to privacy.

The regulatory committee meeting will be held at Ilford Town Hall at 7:15 on November 30.