A COUNCIL leader has defended the concept of new garden communities, saying they will protect existing villages.

Braintree Council is holding a Full Council meeting tonight and speaking ahead of the meeting council leader Graham Butland stressed the need to combat the threat of opportunist developers.

He said: “Housing is an emotive subject, and as with anything new, very often the view tends to be that we support it as long as it's not near me, but this is a nettle we have to grasp.

“The risk of not planning for the long-term, and demonstrating we have a credible and viable plan, is that we will continue to see the opportunist and predatory planning applications with limited infrastructure and job provision that frustrate and anger communities so much.

“Through our plan to create sustainable holistically planned garden communities, designed to provide not simply homes but places for people to work and play, we will be able to demonstrate how we are meeting housing need and have more legal power to stop the speculative applications that do so much damage to our villages.”

Three new garden communities could be located west of Braintree, at West Tey, and to the east of Colchester close to the University of Essex.

Mr Butland said: “The plans being developed would be a completely new way of delivering homes, offering us the opportunity to create something from scratch, controlling the speed of build, and importantly being able to bring the roads, schools, green spaces, health and care facilities and technology that that will not only help create communities, but also attract businesses who we know want to come to this area.”

The Campaign Against Urban Sprawl in Essex said the council's aspirations were too high and they needed to listen to what residents want.

The group has fought against proposals to build homes at West Tey and land west of Braintree.