DETAILS of how the West Tey garden community will be built over eight phases have been revealed.

Land on the Colchester and Braintree border has been earmarked for 17,000 homes.

Gateway 120, Cirrus Land and L&Q New Homes, who form the West Tey Partnership. has put together a design and delivery report to show how up to 1,250 homes will be built by 2033.

The report says if the scheme is approved, the neighbourhood would be formed from a number of urban quarters, which are set within a five minute walk from home to community facilities, retail and employment opportunities.

It said: “West Tey will be formed from many neighbourhoods which are linked to each other via streets, views and green infrastructure. This will ensure residents can easily walk to their daily needs.

“Some neighbourhoods will be denser than others and will each have a town, district or neighbourhood centre.”

The report includes diagrams which show where retail and leisure facilities, and “green buffers”

would go.

It said “smart and sustainable “living was the main goal.

It added: “It will be based on principles of sustainability such as designing streets and spaces that respond to local climate and landscape conditions and employ the use of local materials where possible, and will thereafter integrate innovative and smart technologies to achieve resource efficiency, higher quality of life and healthier lifestyles.”

The garden community will be brought forward in eight phases.

Initial delivery is linked to road improvements including the creation of a Marks Tey bypass linking the A120 at Coggeshall to the A12. Phases 1A-1C could create up to 3,500 homes.

Phase one also includes a new primary school and a potential train station.

The report says shops may not be delivered straight away.

Savills carried out a study which said in reality, floorspace for commercial reasons will be difficult to achieve from the outset.

It said: “All of the benchmark towns have grown organically over a longer period of time and the implications of dropping 140,000 sq ft of small units in to the market in one development could be disastrous to a successful leasing strategy as the occupational demand will build over time.

“It would be better to allocate space that could be made available in two or three decades, when a future study into the commercial need can be undertaken.”

To see the plans visit www.

braintree.gov.uk/downloads/ file/7402/design_delivery_report.

Campaigner: 'Traffic will be intolerable' 

CAMPAIGNERS feel residents’ needs are still being ignored after looking at the plans for the West Tey garden community.

Rosie Pearson, secretary for the Campaign Against Urban Sprawl in Essex, said: “These design ideas come very late in the day, despite Cause asking for more information for three years.

“They are worrying because they show an infrastructure last approach, no employment land in the first phase of 2,500 homes and very little green space.

“The newly-dualled A120 does not feature and instead, a new link road between Coggeshall and the A12 is pencilled in, without costings, but not until 2,500 houses are already in place.”

She said the traffic report shows unrealistically low car numbers and the impact elsewhere on the network has not been considered.

She said: “Road users already have to suffer severe congestion, and even a 29 per cent increase in peak hour traffic at Marks Tey from just this site by 2026 will be intolerable.

“The lack of employment land in the first phase indicates the new settlement will be a dormitory settlement and will, therefore, increase the pressure on the already stretched rail network.

“The consortium’s promises have not been backed up by a publicly available viability assessment and, given the infrastructure needed to deliver a garden city at this location we do not believe that it is any more likely to be viable than the councils’ proposals are.”

Gazette:

Here's what to expect from the first phases 

FACILITIES for the first two phases of the West Tey garden community have been proposed.

Phase one is expect to accommodate up to 7,000 people and will include the following: n A “convenience hub”

  •  Supermarket on the edge of the town centre 
  • GP and vet surgery
  • Large village dining pub
  • Flexible units
  • Convenience stores, chemist, cafe/takeaways and a bank
  • Exhibition space
  • Street food markets at the weekend
  • Possible community hall or leisure centre

Phase two will accommodate up to 14,000 people and will include the following:

  •  Pedestrian street to lead away from convenience hub
  •  Additional flexible units
  •  More national brands and restaurants
  • More retail
  • Extension of supermarket
  • More leisure space
  • Considering a leisure quarter for food and drink

The report said: “It is too early to provide specific advice on the strategy beyond Phase 2 as nothing has yet been delivered and the timings and occupational demand are not yet clear.

If we consider how much has changed in the retail landscape in the last 15 years, the next 15 years are likely to see further change.”

A study by London & Quadrant and Cirrus Land says the project is “deliverable”.