COLCHESTER'S new Labour MP has defended the news the city will need to see 250 extra homes built every year saying the housing crisis had gone on "for too long."

Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has unveiled an overhaul of England’s planning rules to help deliver Labour's promise of 1.5m new homes by 2029.

The proposed target for Colchester has been set at 1,290 new homes annually – up from the current target of 1,043 homes a year.

Colchester’s Labour MP Pam Cox said: “Labour was elected on a manifesto to deliver the vital housing that the country needs to solve the current crisis.

“Colchester has a proud history of welcoming new people who make our city a better place and contribute in many different ways. For too long, we’ve not built enough of the right homes in the right places with the right infrastructure.”

Ms Cox added: “We desperately need more genuinely affordable homes, including council homes, for those who need them”.

She also said she was in favour of plans for new garden communities, that offer green spaces, schools, and health services, so “new homes come with the necessary infrastructure and services”.

But Paul Dundas leader of the Conservatives on Colchester Council said: “We are very concerned about these new house numbers and the fact that it is a 'top down' number simply imposed by the Labour Government with no consideration of local circumstances or views.

“The need for housing is recognised – the debate about the reason for the need is a different subject – but Colchester has long been one of the fastest growing and highest building areas and has been very much “doing its bit” for many years and the rapid growth effects are seen and felt by everyone who lives here”.

Mr Dundas said towns and villages who have “worked so hard” to get neighbourhood plans in place such as Wivenhoe, Tiptree, West Mersea, and Myland are now at risk of having to "rip them up and start again".

He added: “The new numbers also increase the risk of speculative development with unscrupulous developers given a green light to once again attempt to build on sites which locally we think unsuitable and, in the past, we have stopped at planning appeal stage.

“It is particularly disappointing that local factors are no longer taken into account under these new rules so Colchester’s congested roads, booked out GPs, full hospital and over subscribed schools will be seen as irrelevant and are sure to get worse. There is no commitment to any new infrastructure with this announcement.”

While Liberal Democrat holder Paul Smith, said: "We are going to have to look at density, that might mean taller buildings with smaller gardens.

"That will have an impact on particularly the elderly, we will be less able to build bungalows as there's more pressure to build flats (blocks) for two or three families."

He added: "One of the thing with big developments is they take a long time, they have to put some infrastructure, things like drainage". 

"As the government is looking to build these houses over the next three or four years, I think we will have more emphasis on places that are quicker to build.

Paul Smith, speaking only for himself, added: "I think mandatory housing targets are a fair way of making sure all councils make sure they take the pain".

"Otherwise some other councils won't make up the difference."