RESIDENTS are scratching their heads after £15,000 set aside to pay for a traffic island at a busy junction is instead earmarked to be spent on a scheme almost two miles away.

When Persimmon Homes was given permission to build hundreds of homes in New Braiswick Park, off Bergholt Road, the agreement was about £15,000 would be handed over to Essex Highways.

Despite the money landing safely in the County Hall coffers, the "pedestrian refuge" never appeared at the junction of Bergholt Road and Tufnell Way.

Now residents have been told despite a design being agreed for the island, the project is "unachievable".

They have also been told the cash, agreed in 2006, will instead be spent on a project "in the spirit" of the original agreement - 1.6-miles away, in Spring Lane.

Stephen Pitt, 40, who lives in Braiswick Park, said: "We are all fuming about it.

"This was a legal planning agreement which has apparently just been changed without anyone being told.

"It's not even being spent in the same ward."

Dad-of-five Mr Pitt added: "The issue for us is it is a dangerous junction.

"At its widest, there is probably space for four lanes, so it is a long road to cross and often you get stuck in the middle, with cars going past either side of you.

"I've got triplets who are just coming out of the buggy and trying to cross that road with them would be really dangerous.

"I hate saying this, but are they going to wait for an accident before doing something?"

Martin Goss, a Lib Dem Colchester councillor who also lives in the development, added: "This has been going on ever since I moved in eight years ago.

"Over that time we've been told the design was complete but there was a delay in building it because site traffic [lorries bringing building materials] was going to be using the entrance while the development was built.

"Then of course the school [Braiswick Primary School, in Apprentice Drive] construction began and that was bringing more site traffic, which is fine - we all understood.

"But to now be told the money's going somewhere else is unreal. I'll have my pedestrian refuge, please."

The email sent to residents states: "Design investigations have shown it [the island] is unachievable."

The money will instead be spent in the "first section of Spring Lane".

It states that will "help alleviate some of the concerns of local residents" and the money "would be spent rather than having to be returned to the developer".

An Essex Highways spokesman said: "The original agreement proposed financial contributions to both the pedestrian refuge and to the entry to Spring Lane.

"Detailed engineering investigations have now shown the pedestrian refuge to be unachievable for technical reasons, so the money will be all used for the “gateway” effect entry work at Spring Lane."