RURAL villages in Tendring could be “suffocated” under plans to build 12,000 homes, it has been claimed.

The concerns were raised as part of a meeting to discuss the latest proposals for the district’s local plan.

Despite warnings of the consequences of not having a plan in place, residents hit out at the high figures detailed in the new “vision for Tendring”, claiming it would ruin communities.

Tendring Council local plan committee member Tom Howard, who is also a councillor for Little Oakley ward, said villages, while unlikely to get more than ten houses, would be surrounded by new developments and the infrastructure would not cope.

He said: “The plans are overkill and could suffocate the rural villages of Tendring.”

However, the committee agreed to push forward with the proposals for 12,000 homes, while stressing they were not giving the green light to building homes on individual sites, but for the overriding vision on the plan.