CLACTON MP Giles Watling has called for roads and railways to be improved before any major new housing developments are built in the constituency.

Mr Watling called for more investment in transport during a debate on economic growth in the East of England in Westminster Hall on Wednesday.

He welcomed economic growth nationally, but said some communities – such as Clacton – are being left behind.

He said that despite successful initiatives such as Tendring Council’s SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) Growth Fund, the quality of local infrastructure is an obstacle to business growth in the town.

“In my view, a country’s economy will only ever be as good as its roads, rails and ports,” he said.

“There is a need to improve the connection to overlooked areas such as the Clacton constituency.

“As a regular commuter myself, I know that it takes far too long for my constituents to travel to the capital and vice versa.

“The 69-mile journey often takes the best part of one hour and 40 minutes - that is nonsense.

“Without more investment in our local transport infrastructure, I believe that we will limit the incentive for people and businesses to move to our area.

“That would mean that my district would continue to be excluded from the strong national economic growth, which is an unacceptable outcome.

“If we are to do our bit to tackle the housing crisis, we must improve our transport infrastructure before any major new housing developments break ground.

“We are leading the way with our garden community developments.

“We simply cannot build more dwellings without first making it easy to occupy, live in and work from them. Investing more in transport would do that.”

Mr Watling told Parliament he will continue to his “70 in 60” campaign, calling for improvements to the Sunshine Coast line.

He added: “People can travel the 52 miles from London to Colchester in 58 minutes, only to crawl the final 18 miles to Clacton in about half an hour—on a good day.

“That clearly has a lot to do with the quality of infrastructure between Colchester and Clacton, compared with the main line to Ipswich, so we should change that.

“When we commit cash to infrastructure in such a way, businesses get excited and want to invest, thereby laying the foundations for future economic growth.”

Mr Watling welcomed the formation of Transport East forum, which he said could help to improve infrastructure, and called on the Government to work with the group.

Residents previously campaigned against plans to earmark 12,000 new homes in Tendring as part of the district council's emerging local plan, due to a lack of infrastructure, such as doctors and school places, and jobs.

The figure has since dropped to just 550 new homes each year until 2033.