TWO garden communities near Braintree will include up to 34,000 homes between them, a new report reveals.

On Monday, Braintree Council released a draft version of its Local Plan.

Following a sustainability test, land at the Colchester and Braintree borders and land west of Braintree could be approved for new towns.

Each area will deliver 2,500 homes within the plan period to 2033.

A new garden community at the Colchester/ Braintree border will deliver an overall total of up to 24,000 homes beyond 2033.

The garden community west of Braintree is set to deliver up to 10,000 homes beyond 2033, making a maximum of 34,000 homes between the two sites.

An infrastructure report shows a garden community west of Braintree, five kilometres west of the town centre, could cost £439million.

The site on the Colchester/Braintree border, five miles west of Colchester’s town centre, is expected to cost more than £1billion. The site between Braintree and Colchester was recommended due to its proximity to Colchester and the facilities there.

Three schemes were suggested for the west of Braintree site — a “northern scheme” with 9,000 homes, a ‘northern scheme reduced’ with 7,900 homes, or a ‘southern scheme’ with 9,300 homes.

An assessment showed option three would be the most beneficial approach.

Lynette Bowers-Flint, chairman of the Local Plan committee, felt confident with the council’s work. She said: “We have consulted on more than one occasion and people will have another chance to make representations.

“The committee has looked at an awful lot of sites, I can’t imagine anyone accusing us of rubber-stamping it. If we tack on to every single village a lot of them will be ruined."