Campaigners hit the streets amid fears a new dualled A120 would cause destruction of important wildlife habitats.

Four route options remain on the table for the new road, with protest group Say No to B and C campaigning against the remaining options which cross the Blackwater Valley.

Almost 100 residents attended a protest march on Sunday, which took them through beauty spots of Coggeshall Hall and Feering Marsh, both of which campaigners believe would be devastated by routes B and C.

A spokesman for Say No to B and C said: “The purpose of this walk was to demonstrate how routes B or C would dramatically and negatively impact great swathes of rural Essex countryside.

“Either route would directly open up further land for industrial infill alongside the route, similar to that which can be seen on the A120 from Braintree to Stansted Airport.”

Campaigners say both potential routes would mean the construction of a 400m long viaduct - creating a blot on a “previously untouched, beautiful landscape which has existed for hundreds of years”.

Essex Wildlife Trust has also opposed both routes, saying habitat would be lost for kingfishers, herons, egrets and many more protected species of wildlife.

The spokesman continued: “Stretching from Braintree, close to Bradwell and then on to Coggeshall these two routes will transect Kelvedon and Feering from Coggeshall and then stretch on past Skye Green and up to Marks Tey.

“These options are not only the longest and more destructive of all route options, they are widely known to be staggeringly expensive at over £700 million with likely increase to upwards of £1 billion.

“Other route options are shorter, less expensive and less impactful environmentally and for rural communities.”

Both routes also run across several miles of quarried land near to Bradwell Quarry, a fact campaigners say makes cost estimates less reliable.

Members fear routes B and C are being pursued to facilitate other unpopular developments, such as the Rivenhall Incinerator and the West Tey garden community.

“Essex County Council has received more than 1,000 signatures in opposition of these two route options and this demonstrates the strength of feeling in communities who will be blighted as a result,” the spokesman added.

Visit https://bit.ly/2vWemLd.