A Brightlingsea town councillor has hit back over Local Plan claims, telling residents the smaller housing sites now in the plan were added openly — and insisting “these are proposals, NOT confirmed.”
Jayne Chapman, who runs Spirals shop in the town, posted to the Spotted: Brightlingsea Facebook group after being named in an earlier discussion about the Tendring Local Plan. Her post drew 85 reactions, 18 shares and 15 comments, with residents lining up to back her.
The post follows a 4,000-word objection submitted last week by Brightlingsea resident Mat Court, who challenged the evidence behind a 30-home allocation on Vicarage Field, off Church Road.
Chapman — a member of the council’s planning committee — did not name Court directly, but wrote: “I hope this makes sense as I don’t normally read or make comments on social media but as I have been named I feel it’s only fair to respond.”
The 300 homes that went away
Chapman’s strongest point was a reminder of what the town dodged.
“First let me stress the added development is not something any of us wanted and Tendring Officers objected very forcefully,” she wrote. “After two public consultations — one in 2025 and the other earlier this year — amid a huge public objection and a lot of work done by the councillors and Brightlingsea Town Council, the plan for 300 houses east of Church Road was removed.”
She said councillors then asked what other sites had been submitted in the “call for sites” and whether they could be looked at again. Those smaller sites — including Vicarage Field and Pannell Place — were added.
“These sites were well published both on Facebook, council website, and displays in the council office and in the front window of Spirals shop window for over six weeks,” she said.
‘All 46 councillors can have a say’
Chapman defended her vote to send the plan to full council, where — she said — all 46 Tendring district councillors can debate it, rather than just the seven on the planning committee (fact-checked: unverified — the number of councillors on Tendring District Council was not independently confirmed at the time of writing).
“I also supported it as I feel the public have the right to attend the public consultation. If it didn’t get the support it may not have become public and we would then have been accused of not being transparent. These are all recorded.”
She also disclosed that she had visited Vicarage Field with fellow councillor Cllr Steady, and later visited Pannell Place with him as well. “I made no contact with the landowners beforehand,” she said, “but the owners had spoken to other councillors earlier in the year.”
Chapman also revealed she had spoken by phone to the owner of the Well House site.
She ended her post with an open door: “As most of you are aware, you are more than welcome to come and ask me any questions in the shop. I would rather face to face than be told there are comments on social media.”
Community rallies round
The response was overwhelmingly supportive.
Kerry Pentney praised Chapman’s workload: “Honestly, if you see how much she has done to try and help our town you would be shocked. And the piles upon piles of papers she has to read is ridiculous.”
Aimee Keteca said she had “a huge amount of respect” for Chapman, Cllr Steady and Cllr Barry, adding: “Your efforts and commitment to the town have my full support.”
Cilla T Webb raised the infrastructure question that keeps surfacing in the debate: “Our schools are still full to bursting, only one chemist, doctor surgery full — so where are they supposed to see a doctor, go to school?”
But it was Keith Marchant who broke the consensus, arguing bluntly: “We need houses! Full stop, no ifs, buts or objections from councillors or nimbys. If there’s a space, build.”
The replies to Marchant’s comment pushed back hard. One resident countered that there were “NO plans to demolish any houses, proposed or confirmed, just build more — neither are there any plans to expand the doctors, the schools, the roads.”
Another added: “The problem is developers building property at the top of the range whilst the market is crying out for affordable housing. The developers need to have restrictions placed on what they can build and what price they can sell at.”
A third, from Deborah Stephens, found middle ground: “It’s bold but you’re not wrong — the housing stock in town just isn’t right. We need more bungalows or mixed-use housing, shops with flats on top for younger townsfolk. That doesn’t however mean we need a ton of unaffordable Wimpey four-beds on the edge of town.”
Chester Copperpot welcomed Chapman’s update but warned that public awareness of the Local Plan remained patchy: “A little orange A4 piece of paper doesn’t really express the scale of the bigger plans. A poster-sized version on a fence or something would probably be better.”
What happens next
The Regulation 19 consultation on the Tendring Local Plan remains open until 5pm on Monday 19 October. Residents can submit representations through the council’s consultation portal. The plan will then go before a government planning inspector, with adoption expected in 2027.