A BID to put up hoardings around a site earmarked for a new community centre has been resubmitted after it was cancelled before a planning meeting.

Plans to build the community centre on land off Broton Drive, in Halstead, have been in the pipeline for more than five years.

The Halstead Community Centre Charitable Company says it needs the go-ahead to decontaminate the site before it can apply for planning permission for the new centre.

It needs the green light for the hoardings before that can take place.

The application for hoardings was set to go before Braintree Council’s planning committee on March 3.

But it was withdrawn after planning officers recommended refusal.

They had concerns about the impact on wildlife on the site, including hedgehogs.

The charity has now put in a fresh application which it hopes will be accepted.

Halstead councillor Jackie Pell is a trustee of the charity.

She said: “We have now resubmitted our application with additional changes.

“We are working on getting the site contamination sorted but we need the hoardings before we can do that.

“There will now be holes in the bottom of the fencing to allow hedgehogs to pass through, among other changes.

“The application will have to go to the committee because of my connections to both the council and as a trustee of the charity.

“However, I am more than hopeful that our application for hoardings will be accepted.

“We have to put up the hoardings for safety reasons. We’ve got to make sure the site is safe before we proceed with decontamination.”

One of the sticking points of the previous application was the lack of planning permission to decontaminate the site.

It was granted in 2016, but expired before work could begin.

Mrs Pell said: “We lost our planning permission to decontaminate the site because we are still waiting for the Environment Agency.

“Unfortunately, the Environment Agency can be slow, but they are a nationwide organisation so we understand these things can take time.

“The fencing needs to go up before we can even start decontamination so it’s kind of a chicken and egg situation.”

When asked how long it would be before work will start on the centre, Mrs Pell said: “How long is a piece of string?”

Braintree Council will rule on the renewed application later this year.