A defiant home-owner fears new voting boundaries will cost her money as her plush Longridge house becomes part of the Greenstead estate.

Under proposed changes for Colchester's electoral divisions, hundreds of homes in the Longridge area would become part of the estate.

The idea behind the review is to make local government in Colchester more democratic with each councillor representing a similar number of people.

But the scheme has sparked unrest in the Longridge part of town, where residents fear a connection with Greenstead might cause a drop in their house prices and soaring insurance costs.

Joyce Kelly, of Fulmar Close, plans to launch a petition against the new Longridge-Greenstead boundary.

She said: "If we had wanted to live in Greenstead, we would have bought a house there. I have nothing against Greenstead - you have good and bad areas everywhere.

"The changes could affect our property or our insurance costs. It's not being snobbish. We were quite happy as we were."

She added the council had not written to her about the proposals.

The council's electoral and committee services officer Ray Amesbury said the proposals were featured in the council's newsletter, the local press and advertisements encouraged people to come and look at them.

He added as everyone was potentially affected it would not be practical to write to each individual.

Colchester Council's draft plan will go to the Local Government Commission where they will be scrutinised and people's views taken into account.

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