New town with 9,000 homes could be built

A new town with "upwards of 9,000 homes" could be built in Essex, a council said.

More than 300 sites and several larger standalone proposals were put forward in a "call for sites" as part of Braintree District Council's local plan review.

In a report, the council said the suggested sites could make way for more than 65,000 homes across the district.

Councillors will start to whittle down the suggestions at a series of meetings, starting on Thursday evening, before launching a public consultation for at least six weeks.

The district has three towns including Braintree, where the suggested sites would allow for 5,323 homes to be built.

The plans being considered include a separate "mixed-use, strategic scale urban extension" of Braintree to the south-east of the town, including more than 9,000 homes and 50 hectares of employment land.

In Halstead, 11 sites with space for almost 7,000 homes were put forward.

About 11,000 people currently live in the town, according to Halstead Town Council.

The eight sites suggested in Witham could have space for about 3,000 homes.

Sites were also submitted in most of the villages in the district.

Thursday's local plan sub-committee meeting follows the six-week call for sites consultation, which finished in May.

The revised local plan will outline how the council will meet its goal of building 7,093 new homes in the district between 2024 and 2041.

At the time of the 2021 census, 155,200 people lived in the district.

An independent planning inspector will decide on the final plan put forward by Braintree District Council after a public consultation.

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