Braintree: Fury over quarry plans for village (From Braintree and Witham Times)

Oh how the NIMBYs with their short term interests squeal whenever it is necessary to extract essential assets from within resources close to their own little world. No doubt they wouldn’t give a toss if the chosen location was anywhere else as long as it was ‘off their patch’.

Once this project has run its course, in less than the span of one generation by the sound of it, the village could gain considerably by the acquisition of the sort of legacy facility that redundant sand and gravel works usually make possible.

Long term water sports; fishing; and associated leisure activities within a pleasantly landscaped nearby local would surely be well worth the minimal hassle likely to be experienced during the short lived productive phase.

If this project is properly managed, children being born to Rayne families now might well be able to look forward to their own ‘Gosfield Lake’ by the time they hit their mid-teens.

Turn down the current project and the land will probably be covered in houses in twenty years anyway. For those of you old enough to remember just think of what became of Hobbs Farm Meadows between Coggeshall Road in Braintree and the River Blackwater to the north.

Stop whingeing and be more positive about these issues!

If there is any joined up thinking at BDC, then there is an opportunity for the applicant to fund some essential road improvements as the extra traffic created will need it - such as improvements to the junction on the Braintree bypass (roundabout near Freeport), dualling of the Northern bypass or even the A120 towards Colchester.