CAMPAIGNERS say the fight to stop thousands of homes being built on green fields north of Colchester will go on.

The vow came after Government inspector Terrence Kemmann-Lane ruled there was no legal reason at least 2,200 homes, plus community facilities, could not be built on 247 acres of land off Nayland Road.

His announcement lends greater legal weight to landowners Mersea Homes and Countryside Properties’ plans to press ahead with the development.

A masterplan will still have to be drawn up and planning permission given before any work can start.

The inspector rejected claims the fields should be protected because they had previously been earmarked as open space by Colchester Council.

He also decreed house-building should not start until 2016. Developers wanted it brought forward, while campaigners were urging a delay.

Jean Dickinson, vice-chairman of Myland Parish Council and a former planning surveyor, fears time is now running out to stop the development.

She said: “Once the developer starts spending money on planning applications, we won’t be able to stop the ball rolling. It’ll be too late by then.

“The 2016 date for the start of housing construction has not changed, as we asked. We wanted it put back until at least 2021.” However, she is now hoping a forthcoming review of transport issues will agree with objectors’ view that the area would struggle to cope with 2,200 extra homes off Nayland Road, plus other developments, including 1,500 homes on the old Severalls Hospital site.

David Clouston, of the campaign group Love Myland, which collected 1,234 signatures from residents opposing the growth of Mile End, said the ruling was “nothing unexpected”.

However, he stressed the inspector’s ruling was merely concerned with legal issues and had not considered if 2,200 new homes would be a good or bad idea.

He explained: “That’s not the inspector’s job. We thought the inspector was going to confirm the policy – it would have been very surprising if he had not.”