BRAINTREE Council has recommended one of the potential A120 routes be disregarded by planners.

Option A, is the only route that runs along any of the existing route for the A120, and travels 14km from Millennium Way, Braintree, to a new junction on the A12 between Kelvedon and Marks Tey.

A formal response to the consultation, run by Essex County Council, has been submitted by a cross-departmental working group on behalf of the Braintree Council.

The report states: “Overall in the view of Braintree Council, Option A offers the least advantages of all the routes that are under consideration.

“Whilst all options will have varying impacts on local communities, Option A will have a significant effect on the larger villages of Stisted, as well as having the potential to bring more noise, pollution and visual impacts to Coggeshall.

“Both villages have significant Conservation Areas with a large number of listed buildings sitting in a rural context.

“Option A would bring the new route of the A120 into closer proximity to these communities with the subsequent negative implications.

“Option A largely uses the existing route of the A120 which means there is less resilience in the highway network and less overall capacity when compared to other options where both a new dualled A120 and the existing single carriageway route will be available to traffic in addition to the smaller local road network.”

Speaking at a meeting of Braintree Council’s Cabinet on March 13, James Abbott (Green, Silver End and Cressing) said that he would like to see more studies be undertaken.

He said: “I’m pleased to see the district council has taken a scoring mechanism in terms of the routes but my problem with it is that it is not objective.

“Whilst I accept that routes A, B and C will have a severe impact on the Blackwater Valley, I think the report discounts the impact on the Blackwater Valley from route options D and E.

“I just feel that the analysis is a good start but it has not looked at all the important things that need looking at.”

The consultation into the dualled A120 closed on March 14, with a decision on a preferred route expected to be made by autumn this year.

Option A has drawn strong criticism from residents of Stisted, which it says would split the village in half.

Residents formed the Stisted Action Group (Sag) to fight the proposals.

A spokesman for Sag said: “Although it’s a great step forward and we are extremely grateful to Braintree Council for making the recommendation, we are not out of the woods yet.

“We hope that Essex County Council take Braintree Council’s views on board, when making their final route selection.”