New homes will erode village life, says campaigner

13 December 2025

Lewis Adams,Essexand

Joshua Holmes-Bright,in Birchanger

News image — Lynn Madison fears her village will be swallowed up by Bishop's Stortford if green belt land is built upon

Joshua Holmes-Bright/BBC Lynn Madison has shoulder-length blonde hair. She is wearing a pink jumper and standing in front of fields. — Lynn Madison fears her village will be swallowed up by Bishop's Stortford if green belt land is built upon

Building 480 homes next to an ancient village will "erode" its identity forever, a campaigner has warned.

The developer, City and Country, wants to spread the properties across Birchanger and south of Stansted Mountfitchet in Essex.

Planning director Simon Vernon-Harcourt said it was a "really good site" that would allow young people to get on the property ladder.

But Lynn Madison, who lives in Birchanger, argued the loss of the green belt land would mean the villages would be swallowed up into the nearby Hertfordshire town of Bishop's Stortford.

She said urban sprawl would "fundamentally change the whole character of our village" and warned the infrastructure would not cope.

"We're already challenged with congestion on roads all around here every single day and this will just compound that problem," Ms Madison added.

Birchanger was named in the Domesday Book in 1086, which said it had two households at the time.

The village would have 180 new homes under the scheme, while Stansted would have 300.

City and Country submitted its planning applications on 7 November and residents had until Friday to respond to a public consultation.

The decision to give it permission is now in the hands of Uttlesford District Council.

Glyn Baker/Geograph A field surrounded by large trees and covered with green shrubs and grass on a cloudy day. — City and Country believes it is not infringing on green belt land, such as the field pictured, in the area

Ms Madison continued: "It's a very close community - we have a village school, a village pub – and creating a huge, sprawling housing estate on top of that will change that character forever.

"We will almost become part of Bishop's Stortford on one side and Stansted on the other. It will erode the identity we have."

'Incredibly well-connected'

Mr Vernon-Harcourt said their concerns were being taken into account, but he did not agree green belt land was being infringed upon.

He also insisted there was enough infrastructure to make the development viable.

"It is an incredibly well-connected location, which is one of the reasons why it should be considered for residential development," he said.

"We're not a run of the mill developer, we're a local developer and we want to do something really amazing."

A spokesperson for Uttlesford District Council said its local plan - which is its blueprint for where homes should be built - put it in a "much stronger position to resist inappropriate development".

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