A leading member of Cause says the group now has a viable alternative to the garden communities proposals.

During Friday’s conference, William Sunnucks made a presentation of his own, outlining how planning expert Ted Gittins’s approach to solving the housing crisis would also be more financially sound than building three new garden towns.

Mr Gittins suggested building thousands of new homes in exisiting towns and villages in north Essex. 

Mr Sunnucks said: “We now have a coherent alternative to the garden communities plan both from a planning viewpoint and a financial one.

“Big settlements aren’t the only way to deliver infrastructure and our financial analysis shows that they will actually deliver less.

“The audience heard from speakers that garden communities are not, as we are frequently told, the only way.

“Ted Gittins presented an alternative spatial strategy which demonstrates there is no need for the garden town proposals.”