THE infrastructure budget for the new garden village between Colchester and Marks Tey is half what is needed, a campaign group has claimed.

The Campaign Against Urban Sprawl in Essex (Cause) claims Braintree Council, Colchester Council and Essex County Council, who are working in partnership on the proposed new town of 16,858 homes, have budgeted £810 million for infrastructure.

However Cause has conducted its own research into the proposals and says that figure should be closer to £1,600 million.

In particular, campaigners have highlighted transport provision, healthcare and education, as areas for serious concern.

Rosie Pearson, Secretary for Cause, said: "We have asked to see the councils’ modelling several times but have been refused sight of the details behind the budget. This has forced us to carry out our own research. What we have found is worrying.

“Large public sector infrastructure projects are known to be risky, and Lord Kerslake indicated as much in his peer review of the garden communities project in January.

"With the West Tey proposal, Braintree and Colchester are starting off with a budget so far below what is actually needed that it is clear that this project is doomed to fail.

"Two things can happen - our councils will be forced to borrow more than twice as much as currently planned or we will find ourselves lumbered with a half-finished new town with 17,000 homes and only some of the infrastructure it needs.

“West Tey is too big, too risky and too complicated for our local authorities to cope with and should be dropped.”

A spokesman for North Essex Garden Communities disputed the £810 million figure, saying it was "an indicative cost for the entirety of the build".

He said: "We have been working with a company called AECOM who are one the largest multi-disciplinary practices and have considerable experience and knowledge around development. They set out in the preferred options consultation the anticipated costs including utilities, transport and infrastructure etc. At the moment we are undertaking ‘concept feasibility’  work which is ongoing, and is being used to test and refine those assumptions."