A BID to finalise the first phase of a 575-home housing development has been given approval.

Developers Dandara Eastern have the final seal of approval from Braintree Council for their development at Towerlands, off Panfield Road in Braintree.

Overall, Dandara are seeking to build a whopping 575 homes at the former site of the Towerlands Centre, which closed in 2012.

The bid is split into multiple phases, with the first phase comprising 168 of the planned homes.

Outline permission for the 575 homes was granted in April 2021 with further applications, including as the phase one bid, seeking to resolve matters such as appearance, landscaping, layout and scale.

The development has been controversial with some residents, and the original bid received nearly 100 objections.

The latest plans have also received objections, with residents raising concerns over highway safety, loss of ecology, construction traffic, air, noise and light pollution, and overdevelopment.

One objector said: “The current surrounding roads cannot cope with this construction.

“Lorry drivers will ignore the 7.5-tonne weight restriction and will cut through Panfield to avoid Panfield Lane and the town centre.

“Panfield is a small peaceful village with several buildings of historical interest.

“The increase in traffic will destroy this village.

“The noise of this build along with the destruction of natural habitat is a travesty.”

Despite objections, Braintree Council’s planning committee agreed with officers’ recommendations and unanimously approved Dandara’s latest application.

Speaking at the meeting on Tuesday, councillor Gabrielle Spray said: “I do think it looks really good, from the pictures we’ve seen. I do think the quality looks excellent.

“It is a very difficult site because it was previously a golf course. It has got trees and landscaping dotted all around which have got to be removed in order to accommodate the housing but I do also note that the applicant did respond to each of those comments on the landscaping and had addressed the points concerned.

“I’m pleased officers also pushed quite hard on design and that’s obviously paid off.”