Decision on 1,000 homes at ex-Army base is delayed

Campaigners have suffered a setback in their fight to prevent 1,000 homes being built at a former Army training base.

Middlewick Ranges in Colchester has been earmarked for development since 2022.

Colchester city councillors were asked to remove it from their Local Plan on Monday night - following pressure from campaigners and advice from Natural England - but the committee could not reach an agreement.

Ecology expert and Save The Middlewick Ranges campaigner Martin Pugh said "we're not going to stop fighting".

Tim Young, chairman of the Local Plan Committee, told the meeting at Charter Hall that Middlewick remained "at risk" of development because of the delay.

The Labour councillor said sarcastically: "The Middlewick campaigners will be delighted with that, I'm sure."

The council's Local Plan dictates where 14,720 homes could be built across the city by 2033.

Activists, including the Buglife conservation trust and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, have campaigned against the idea of housing on Middlewick - which is owned by the Ministry of Defence.

Earlier this month, the city council said surveys indicated the Wick was a site of potentially national significance due to breeding birds and invertebrates.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsey joined campaigners at the site prior to Monday's meeting, in the hope Middlewick would be scratched off the plans.

He hailed a "successful" campaign and said: "It provides inspiration to other campaigners around our county and our country at a time when the government has been trying to pitch developers against the natural environment, which is a real fallacy."

The committee narrowly voted against the revised Local Plan.

Conservative Andrew Ellis instead recommended the decision be delayed, pending various conditions, including that further reports be put together about infrastructure and financing of a new A120 link road.

The councillors voted for Ellis's recommendation and Young said it would take many months to address the requests.

Despite the unexpected twist, Mr Pugh remained confident.

"Middlewick is the beating heart of Colchester's green ecological network," he told the BBC.

"All the evidence points in the direction that it's irreplaceable and undevelopable."

In a statement, a Colchester City Council spokesperson said Monday's decision "underscores the complexity and significance of the issues at hand".

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