MORE than 60 new homes are set to be built next to a specialist school despite concerns over traffic after councillors approved plans put forward by developers.

Hills Residential want to build 62 dwellings with garages, parking and infrastructure, on a piece of currently vacant land located east of School Road in Elmstead.

Principally comprised of two-storey detached houses, the site will feature 57 market units, of which five will be bungalows, and five affordable social homes.

The proposed site is situated next to Market Field School, which is attended by 311 students aged between five and 16 who have moderate learning difficulties.

As part of the application, a two-bedroom respite bungalow is also proposed for parents who have children at the nearby school, should they need it.

The application was discussed at length at a Tendring Council Planning Committee meeting on Tuesday at the request of Alresford and Elmstead councillor Gary Scott.

At the meeting Mr Scott spoke in favour of building new houses but was worried about the increased traffic congestion the development could cause.

“I have no problem with building new homes and helping people with affordable homes,” he said.

“But my concern with this is the amount of traffic which is going to go onto School Road and the Elmstead Market crossroads.

“The crossroads are very dangerous and only a couple of weeks ago we had a bad accident, and this will add to that pressure point.

“I would like to see improvements made because this development will cause a lot of problems.”

In addition to the potential highway’s issues, the dwellings’ lack of renewable energy sources also proved to be a concern amongst the committee members.

In a bid to make applications more future friendly, the committee used the opportunity to pass a motion requesting the policy committee considers adding new policies.

Tendring Council deputy chairman and Planning Committee vice chairman Jeff Bray, said: “It is clear and obvious that the inclusion of car charging points, among others, are far easier and dramatically less expensive at the build stage of a property.

“Given the council’s recent declaration of a climate emergency, this makes perfect sense.

“With an ever-growing number of electric cars and an increased awareness of the need to reduce our carbon footprint, this would seem to be a no brainer to most people.”

“Hopefully our sister policy making committee can come up with some interesting and innovative ideas to make our future developments greener.”

The motion will be discussed at the planning policy committee in the New Year.

Hills Residential’s application to build 62 new homes was approved.