I recently contacted Priti Patel MP to enquire about the much needed additional trains or shuttle train required for Braintree to alleviate the pressure on Witham and its residents who often complain about parking issues.

The much talked about elusive Cressing loop is no further forward in the planning stages at Greater Anglian headquarters.

New housing in the Braintree district is advancing at a pace never seen before and swathes of greenbelt land is beginning to be concreted over

So many houses are being planned between Rayne and Braintree its known locally as Rayne-Tree.

Its all very well building houses for the new expanding, expected workforce of Stansted Airport, which also includes many Londoners that are leaving the city in droves in search of a better quality of life for their children.

It can take anything up to two hours to travel 18 miles from Stansted to Braintree Bus Terminus via the villages of Essex although beautiful on a summers day.

This can’t be right. There is no infrastructure in place.

The A120 is jammed which includes the A12 at peak times, smaller surrounding villages are being used as rat runs during these periods.

What’s needed is more trains ferrying customers along the single track every half an hour at peak times connecting with trains at Witham for London or more trains direct from Braintree to London.

All this entails is a slight alteration to the train timetables.

By David Humphrey of Braintree.