FAMILIES fear the peace of their small village could be shattered if plans for a car park and storage facility at a former shellfish packing site are given the go-ahead.

Rochford District Council has finished a consultation on an application from Autoval, which already operates a car refurbishing workshop on the site, in Fambridge Road, South Fambridge.

Residents have already complained to the council about activities on the site and fear the new application for storage and a car park could make noise and traffic worse. A campaign website, called Save South Fambridge, has been set up by concerned residents.

Debbie Nind, 47, a tutor, of Crane Court, said: “Big lorries thunder along the roads nearby and it’s a quiet village with narrow roads, which really aren’t suitable for this. It is very dangerous.

“We have many questions about how it’s been allowed to be turned from a shellfish packing site into a heavy industrial site without residents knowing about it. There was no public consultation on the issue, and this application would only make it worse.”

Johnny Smith, 80, a cab driver, of St Thomas’s Road, said: “This is going to affect the house prices in the village. It’s completely unsuitable for it.”

Ashingdon Parish Council has objected to the application and agreed with many of the residents’ concerns.

Tony Bowhill, of the Bowhill Planning Partnership, which represents the company, said: “Autoval refurbishes cars for export. The site has a general industrial permission, but car parking and hardstanding need to be sorted out, hence the application.

“Once this is dealt with, the company will then be able to assess the situation.

“There will be more activity on site than there has been before, but that is obvious because the site wasn’t used for 15 to 20 years.”

He added noise surveys had been carried out which found no problems and there was only one case of a lorry leaving the site out of designated hours because the driver had worked more hours than he was allowed.

He added: “No crushing of cars happens there. It’s merely refurbishing of cars, a garage in essence.”