Councillors have clamped down on a speculative internet scheme selling plots of land - advertised as ripe for development, near a north-Essex village.
Land between the A12 and Colchester Road at West Bergholt is being sold by Profitable Plots, a land wholesaler based in Leicester.
At a Colchester Council planning meeting on Thursday, an order was issued under the Town and Country Planning Act to prevent the landowner from sub-dividing land without planning permission.
Cllr Christopher Garnett (Con, Dedham and Langham) said: "There is an urgent need to protect this land. This order will prevent any development on all plots at this site."
The scheme encourages investors to buy a plot in the hope of making massive profits if planning permission is granted for the land to be developed.
The Government issued guidance to local authorities in April recommending that "swift and pre-emptive action" be taken against such schemes.
Published Monday, December 13, 2004
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