OPPOSITION to plans to build a new St Luke’s Hospice and 50 homes on green belt land may be based on false assumptions, hospice officials insist.

Plans for a new six-bed hospice and 50 upmarket homes at Malgraves Farm, off Lower Dunton Road, Langdon Hills, will be considered by Thurrock Council later this month.

Residents and community groups have objected, but St Luke’s says some objectors may have been misinformed.

St Luke’s has refuted claims the homes would be built ahead of the the hospice, the hospice building would only be used as an office, and that it would take patients from another hospice.

St Luke’s would keep its eightbed hospice in Basildon and with the new hospice offering extra accomodation. It would be built before all but seven of the new homes.

The charity works with St Francis Hospice, Brentwood, but insists the newbuilding would not take St Francis patients Hospice chief executive Eileen Marshall said: “The plans submitted to Thurrock Council are for a six bedroom hospice, with appropriate space for outpatient clinics and support services.

“The sale of the houses will cover the building costs.”