COLCHESTER councillors have agreed to pump £450,000 into getting plans for three new towns off the ground.

Colchester Council agreed its budget which includes £450,000 being set aside for the local plan and the north Essex garden communities.

The three towns have been put forward by Colchester, Braintree, Tendring and Essex county councils but are vigorously opposed by campaigners.

Last year, a planning inspector said the local authorities’ plans were not viable and asked them to look at some areas again.

At the budget meeting a number of Conservative councillors opposed the budget unhappy at the plans to put cash towards the process.

Chelmsford Weekly News:

Tory group leader Darius Laws said: “I am just not convinced either way on what we are doing right now.

“I think most people out there are bamboozled, a bit like Brexit frankly.

“We are staring at a five year supply of housing allocations gun and if we don’t get this right then we are in a real pickle.”

Mr Laws said “urban sprawl” had already begun in areas in the town.

He added: “It is so wrong and what I am worried about it what happens to the likes of West Bergholt and Rowhedge going forward if we find out the inspector says ‘You have got it wrong again, guys’ and we lose that five year supply of housing.

“I think we could be bold, we could be really radical if we worked together.

“How long are we going to keep writing cheques when we don’t see tangibly what comes of it?

Lib Dem Andrea Luxford Vaughan said she also had concerns about the move but backed the budget.

She said councillors needed to see the business plan.

“We have a responsibility to build homes and my only concern is the fact that at the moment I think there are some issues and I don’t want to turn up at another hearing and find it doesn’t work,” she said.

“I think there are some issues that need to be addressed and I am not in any way convinced that a group that is set up to deliver a specific brief are the right people to help us with those.

“We have a collective responsibility to how we spend public money and we also have a responsibility to make sure that we get a plan that is sound to prevent more speculative developments.”