Concerns have been raised about activity happening on a beauty spot.

Diggers were spotted on the land east of the high street by members of the public, prompting fears over what was happening to it.

No planning application has been submitted for the site, which has 16 air raid shelters on it.

Jane Giffould of the Halstead 21st Century Group, who want to transform the land into a heritage site, said: “I haven’t been to the site recently, but we have seen diggers on the site previously, but when we approached them they said that they were just cutting the grass."

A Braintree Council spokesman said: "The site is currently being marketed by the consortium of landowners and as part of this marketing, there are some site investigation works being undertaken by contractors."