THE leader of Tendring Council has pledged that the authority will continue to develop plans for a new garden communities after concerns were raised by a planning inspector.

The first part of the council’s Local Plan – the planned blueprint for development in the district up until 2033 – has been examined by a planning inspector at a public inquiry.

The authority submitted a joint ‘section one’ with Colchester Borough Council and Braintree District Council, setting out a shared vision for the growth of North Essex.

One part of the plan include proposals for three new communities across North Essex, including one on the border of Colchester and Tendring.

A planning inspector recommended that more work was done on the viability of garden communities before the section of the Local Plan could be found sound, and he outlined three options as possible next steps for the council to consider.

One was to scrap the draft Local Plan altogether and begin again, while another was to remove garden communities from section one and continue without them for the time being.

Neil Stock, leader of the council, has opted for ‘option two’ – to continue on and collect the further evidence required to support garden communities, maintaining the agreed council position.

“This approach best protects the existing towns and villages in the district from urban sprawl and offers the most effective and sustainable way to meet long term growth needs and economic aspirations for Tendring and north Essex.

“This option maintains the cross party position which the council agreed when the Local Plan was submitted to the Planning Inspectorate.

“I believe strongly that the democratic will of this council should be upheld and there is quite simply no compelling reason to change.”

“We can all be extremely proud that we are leading the nation when it comes to housing delivery with a garden community scheme that sees infrastructure delivered first with quality homes of mixed tenures.

“Of course, There will be challenges, obstacles and all sorts of risks to manage and overcome but nothing worth doing was ever easy and we are striving to achieve better homes and a better place for the future which is what the Local Plan is all about”