Stanway could become “like a car park” if plans for another 420 new homes are approved, a parish council has warned.

Phase 2 Planning and Development has submitted an application on behalf of Mersea Homes and Hills Residential to create the new estate at Fiveways Fruit Farm, in Heath Road.

But Stanway Parish Council has warned the area’s infrastructure is already at breaking point with the suburb’s increasing growth.

Parish council chairman John Spademan said: said residents have already expressed considerable concern about the proposals.“We are becoming increasingly frustrated because the infrastructure is not there for these developments.

“The infrastructure of Stanway is already gridlocked and everything being thrown into the area keeps adding to it.

“Soon, the whole area is going to be like a big car park which creaks along very occasionally.”

The site, roughly the size of 17 rugby pitches, has been allocated for housing in Colchester Council’s Adopted Site Allocation Plan.

A planning statement said the development would mark the “finishing phases of the Stanway Growth Area”.

Mr Spademan said: “Stanway is already full but we seem to be getting more and more homes.

“The infrastructure of Stanway is gridlocked and everything being thrown into the area keeps adding to it.

“They have doubled the size of the primary schools and they are putting another special needs school here. These things are good, but they will have a knock on affect on the traffic which has not been addressed.

“These planned homes are making an already bad situation increasingly worse.”

Gazette:

A 3D model taken from the application

The estate will feature a collection of flats, as well as one- to five- bed houses.

A new road connection between Warren Lane and the Stanway Western bypass is being proposed to serve as the main access for the new estate.

A roundabout could also be added, linking Blackberry Road, Peartree Road and Winstree Road to Heath Road and the site.

A planning report states: “The application site is located in a highly sustainable urban residential location with the nature and scale of the development proposals highly compatible and acceptable within this context.”

Fiveways Farm has been used for farming since 1876.

If the plans get the go-ahead, Fiveways plans to move to a new site in the area.