Plans for a 690 home settlement previously dismissed for being too isolated and on Green Belt land have been submitted to the council.

Developer Quinn Estates and homebuilder Redrow Homes have submitted a joint planning application for the former North Weald Golf Club site off Rayley Lane.

An official build proposal - which includes 555 homes, affordable homes, a 70 bed retirement complex and 70 bed nursing care accommodation - has been a long time coming.

Epping Forest District Council was approached by Quinn Estates when the Local Plan was being drafted, subsequently turning down the proposals because they were on “the Green Belt and not next to any other existing settlements."

In April the company came out swinging.

Chairman Mark Quinn said: "Within the national planning policy framework they should be looking at sites just like this.

"We have no idea why it was rejected. We don't think it was looked at in a proper fashion. We think there are flaws in the planning process and how sites are judged."

Regardless, Quinn Estates is trying again, with a development which includes a two-form entry primary school with outdoor space and parking, a Special Educational Needs Centre and a 'local centre' with retail space and a community centre.

A sports hub with open-air pitches, a pavilion, facilities for scouts, office space, and a country park covering more than 25 acres would also be built.

A new roundabout onto the A414 is also proposed.

Quinn Estates' Development Director Hamish Buttle told Monday's North Weald Bassett Parish Council meeting the planning application had been submitted.

He has been fully talking with the parish council for several months about the inclusion of a new community hub for North Weald Bassett Parish Council and a new medical centre, which forms part of the development proposal.

Mr Quinn added: "This is a real opportunity to take a poor quality piece of land, which is not in agricultural use and is not viable in its current use, and deliver an exceptional scheme that helps address Epping Forest’s chronic housing shortage and widening affordability gap, whilst also delivering game-changing sporting, educational and community benefits for the people of the Epping Forest district and Essex.

"The fact that we are providing such significant education, sporting and community infrastructure together with an unprecedented 40 per cent affordable housing and substantial S106 contributions, probably explains the reason why nearly 1,000 people wrote letters of support - more support than any other site received during the council’s consultation process.

"We believe that what we are offering creates a very special circumstance and justifies developing this site ahead of any other site in the council’s draft Local Plan.

"With our reputation for doing what we say we do, and our track record for delivery, we look forward to working with the council and the local community to bring this exciting development forward during the planning application process over the next 12 months.”