Plans submitted for new 7,750-home development

Plans for a long-anticipated development of 7,750 homes in north Essex have been submitted.

Land east of Colchester has been earmarked for the garden community, which includes the creation of five schools, a health hub and civic centre.

A new road linking the A133 and the A120 is also due to be built at a cost of £186m, and a so-called rapid transit system is being built.

Project director Russ Edwards said the blueprints reflected "years of dedicated, collaborative" work with residents and councils.

The application will be decided by a committee of Colchester, Tendring and Essex county councillors over the next year to 18 months.

It was first proposed in the mid-2010s, before a working group between the councils was established in 2021.

Four primary schools, a secondary school and a country park are included in the plans.

A total of 30% of the homes would be made affordable, developer Latimer said.

Edwards added: "We are very excited for the next steps in taking the proposal forward."

The development was able to proceed after the councils secured funding for the new dual-carriageway link road earlier in March.

Work on the route could be completed by 2030, according to Essex County Council.

Sir Bernard Jenkin, the Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex, previously said the road must be built before the thousands of new homes.

A total of 837 houses are due to be built in the first phase of development and residents could be moving in by the late-2020s.

Richard Cook, chief development officer at Clarion Housing Group, the parent firm of Latimer, said submitting the plans was "a major step forward".

He added: "We would like to acknowledge and thank our project partners who have helped us get to this important milestone."

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