Chelmsford Council is set to object to proposals to turn a former post office depot into a roadstone coating factory.

And MP Simon Burns has written to Essex County Council, which will decide on the plans, to urge them to reject the scheme.

Hundreds of nearby residents have organised a petition against plans by Lefarge Redlands Aggregates to site the factory at the Brook Street railway sidings.

Head of town planning services Clive Hollyman said: "The railway siding is a unique local opportunity to encourage employment generating businesses which can make use of the rail transport.

"This opportunity will be lost if this application is approved and I recommend a strong objection be made to the county council."

More than 150 of them turned up to protest at an exhibition hosted by the company a week ago and now a residents' group has been set up to fight the proposals.

Borough councillors in Chelmsford are being asked for their views at an environment committee meeting next week and their officers have recommended a strong objection.

The company expect there could be more than 135,000 tonnes of bitumen-coated road surface produced a year - meaning there would be 23 lorry movements every day.

Although four jobs would be created by the proposal, council officers said the environmental impact outweighed the benefits that the operation would bring to Chelmsford.

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