RESIDENTS in a quiet country lane are devastated after developers got the green light to build on their doorsteps.

Homeowners in Betts Green Road, Little Clacton, had objected to proposals for seven new homes on a field next to their lane.

They claimed the development would create a “Brookside-style” estate and be a “blot on the landscape”.

Brian and Margaret Millard said the site should remain as farmland.

The retired couple, who have lived on the single-track lane for almost nine years, claimed residents had paid premiums for houses with views of “idyllic” open countryside.

Mrs Millard, 68, said: “It’s a lovely little lane – it’s picture perfect.

"That’s why we moved here. If I had wanted to live on an estate I would have bought somewhere surrounded by other properties."

Mrs Millard and her husband, 71, say residents plant flowers along the lane. They fear construction vehicles will play havoc while building work is going on.

“Our lives are going to be turned upside down and no one cares,” she said.

“We all wrote letters to object but before you could say Jack Robinson we found out it had been approved.

“The parish council objected to it. This has upset everyone.”

The couple fear the push to build more houses will devastate villages like Little Clacton.

Tendring Council’s planning committee passed the outline proposals earlier this month.

The detailed plans still have to go before the committee to be approved.