Braintree Eastern News Today

Residents living near Braintree will have to move cars off-road to allow huge lorries to access the site of the controversial Rivenhall incinerator

FED-UP residents are calling on councillors to act amid fears their village is becoming a “rat-run”.

FED-UP residents are calling on councillors to act amid fears their village is becoming a “rat-run”.

Essex County Council sits at County Hall, Chelmsford - Credit: Archant Residents for Uttlesfords two county councillors have joined Essex County Councils official opposition group. Councillors Paul Gadd and Mike Foley, representing Saffron Walden and Thaxted, formed an alliance with eight other independent and small party councillors bidding for a stronger say in decision-making at County Hall. With 10 members, the Non-Aligned Group is the largest opposition group against the councils Cons...

But the top issue is the strong concern in many communities about overdevelopment.    The inability of Braintree District Council to secure a Local Plan and the way in which communities had little say in the failed “garden communities” (new towns) project has not gone down well.  Planning is important to ensure that the right amount and types of development deliver homes, jobs and services locally.  But in Braintree District that is largely not happening and planning seem to be so...

Disastrous plans for a huge quarry on the outskirts of Coggeshall are expected to be submitted this month to Essex County Council. Blackwater Aggregates, the operators of Bradwell Quarry, will submit proposals to extract 13million tonnes of sand and gravel from a 400-acre site over a 20-year period. The quarry, when finished in the 2040s, would be vast and will be turned into a flood alleviation scheme complete with a huge dam near the historic Dick Nunn’s Bridge in the Blackwater River...