An MP has slammed proposals to create thousands of homes and jobs in a rural area as "complete madness".
North Essex MP Bernard Jenkin was hitting back at a planning blueprint which could see 67 acres of countryside between Frating and Great Bromley transformed into an industrial site.
There are fears the land could be earmarked for between 2,000 to 2,500 houses as a "new settlement" on the site south of the A120 and west of the A133.
Mr Jenkin said he will urge Tendring Council to think again about its seven-year plan for the district, saying it is totally inappropriate to build a business park there.
He said: "We should not create thousands of jobs in the middle of the countryside where people can only get there by car and jobs should not be carted miles and miles away from where people live."
Peter Patrick, Tendring Council's planning portfolio holder, said the draft Local Plan at this stage earmarks the site as industrial land only, but 2,000 to 2,500 houses may also go there.
He said: "What we are looking for is a new settlement that would be a sustainable settlement and that would be a sustainable settlement only if there's housing and jobs together. Industrial land on its own does not make it sustainable."
Published Tuesday July 27, 2004
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