| Labour blocked from fast-tracking thousands of new houses in Colchester without a proper plan for infrastructure |
Cllr Sara Naylor, deputy leader of the Colchester City Council Conservatives, said: “There’s no way we are ever going to vote for a draft Local Plan without being certain that there’s a plan to deliver enough school places, hospital beds, GPs, sewage capacity, water supplies and roads for the people who elected us to represent them.”
Cllr Tim Young, Labour chair of the Local Plan Committee, chose to call a fresh meeting in an attempt to railroad through the housing allocations of 20,800 homes, without being able to explain how the city will cope with 26% increase in the population.
Cllr Naylor added: “It was good to see so many residents eloquently explain their deep concerns about uncontrolled house-building. However, it was disappointing that Cllr Tim Young tried to prevent councillors having a full debate. We strongly objected to this because chairs of committees should always be impartial.”
The original decision from Charter Hall meeting in February 2025 still stands. The infrastructure evidence must be assessed. This can be done concurrently with other Local Plan tasks to avoid wasting time.
The Local Plan Committee also noted the confirmation by the Head of Colchester Council’s planning department that the Committee was not able to remove Middlewick from the Local Plan, regardless of the outcome of the vote.
The latest motion to reconsider the original decision was lost by a majority of 7-4, greater than than the February vote at Charter Hall, which was 6-5.
2025-05-08
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