More than 200 protesters marched against plans for 350 houses and a new school building.

The Coggeshall Community Action Group donned campaign T-shirts and made placards before setting off from Coggeshall clock tower towards the Marks Hall estate on Sunday.

Honywood Community Science School hopes to have a new building on land it currently owns and a site donated by the Marks Hall Charitable Trust.

The 350 houses will be built on the school’s current site in Westfield Drive.

Money from the development will finance the £30million new school and landowners involved in the project will also receive a share, with Marks Hall Charitable Trust expecting to receive up to £5million.

Campaigners believe the development will destroy the character of the village and are concerned about extra traffic using the A120 Coggeshall junction, an accident blackspot.

Action group chairman Martyn Lucas said: “It was a very successful march.

“Everybody made a sterling effort and we achieved what we were trying to do."

Graeme Fraser Steele, chairman of trustees at Marks Hall, said: “We recognise that not all members of our community support these proposed changes to Coggeshall and we respect both their community spirit and their right to express their views.

“We firmly believe that the Honywood project offers tangible benefits to the community."

For the full story, see this week's Braintree and Witham Times.