OPPOSED to hundreds of homes lumped together on their doorsteps? Yes they are.

Placard-waving ‘Nimbys’?

No they are not – so says Rosie Pearson.

In a few days’ time the group Rosie is representing may have to convince Colchester Council otherwise.

After spending thousands of pounds on publicity, a website and access to experts’ opinions, members of Rosie’s group will take to the floor of the council chamber to explain their cause.

And what’s that? Well that is CAUSE, actually.

It’s an acronym for the Campaign Against Urban Sprawl in Essex and one that has gathered pace since its inception in 2010.

Back then, the founders were worried about potential, smaller scale, development.

Now things have ramped up a gear.

Colchester, Tendring and Braintree Councils have all been working on their Local Plans – blueprints for where new homes should for up to 2033.

This process has established the area between Marks Tey and Coggeshall has the scope for 20,000 homes.

All of this will have to be approved by a Government inspector next year who will look at the suggested sites suggested by the councils.

Right now, the most pressing concern for CAUSE is 2,500 of those 20,000 homes being considered as a new Garden City, on land known as West Tey.

CAUSE fears the homes built as one lump will not be supported by the current infrastructure and there are a number of uncertainties in the mix.

Rosie, its secretary, said: “We are saying the impact on a broad area for future generations is so huge, that’s why we are putting money and time in it.

“We don’t oppose garden communities although we have questions about the details of the developments.

“It is West Tey we have substantial concerns about.”

One of the uncertainties is whether the dualling of the A120 between Marks Tey and Braintree will go ahead.

The £600millon scheme still has to be considered in a Government cash plan and might not be built for at least eight years.

Work to widen the A12 to three lanes between the M25 and Marks Tey could also start in 2019 but it could take years to complete.

There are also well-documented calls to upgrade the railway infrastructure in the region.

Rosie, who lives in Pattiswick, said: “Do they really need West Tey at all, given there are so many unknowns about infrastructure?

“Why don’t they shelve it until when they know where the roads are going to be built and when they have got the capacity on the railway line.

“We are not against any settlement where the plans are right. We are against the wrong thing at the wrong time.”

Of those 2,500 homes, 1,250 fall geographically into the Colchester borough.

The remaining 1,250 homes fall within Braintree’s district.

CAUSE will have a strong presence at that meeting in a bid to make its concerns known.

Members of CAUSE include accountants, academics, engineers and even ex-journalists, and they’ve done their research.

“We did start as a small group of people and that was when a group of land owners proposed new homes but our scope has broadened across a wider area of north Essex so we are not a classic Nimby group,” continued Rosie.

“We are now looking at a much more strategically at what’s being done for the area.”

“All we are is a bunch of local people. Sometimes we think it is a nightmare – we are taking on planners as a bunch of volunteers.”

As the case builds, Rosie said CAUSE will spend thousands more but it may turn to the public for help for the first time.

It’s already splashed out on experts in planning, transport and trains using members’ cash or that of private donors.

CAUSE has also garnered public support, having attracted more than 6,600 signatures for its petition against the West Tey development.

“This is a last chance to get the scope of the plan changed,” said Rosie as she drew on Tuesday’s Local Plan Committee meeting again.

More information can be found at www.cause4livingessex.com/