A new station at Beaulieu could mean longer journey times to and from London, it has been claimed.

After years of speculation and promises for a new station at Springfield, the Government has announced that £218m has been set aside to help unlock up to 14,000 homes in the borough through a new Beaulieu Station and a North-East bypass.

The money – the new railway station is estimated to cost around £160m while a brand new road between the A12 and A131, the Chelmsford North-East Bypass between Springfield and Great Leighs, must be spent by 2024/25.

This means that the railway station – currently in the planning phase – must be completed within this timeframe, thus relieving pressure on Chelmsford Railway Station – the busiest two-platform station in the UK outside of London.

However there are doubts over how it will affect services to and from to London, Colchester and beyond.

Writing on railforums.co.uk Dave1987 said that traffic created by the service pattern is already an issue, with many people willing to drive to bigger hub stations to get a faster, more frequent service.

He added: “The one straight bit of track isn’t straight for long so it’s either going to require a lot of remodelling or the whole station will be on a curve.

“The whole idea was to achieve high speed loops so that services didn’t effect each other. At the moment services that are ‘looped’ at Witham are highly effected in terms of journey times.

“Unless the loop is proposed to start soon after the cutting finishes north east of Chelmsford and continue until half way to Hatfield Peverel it will still mean some services have longer journey times by being ‘looped’.

“We need to decrease journey times for the Essex suburbs not increase them.”

The cash pot is part of funding for five specific projects announced by the Chancellor over the weekend, which also includes £99.9m for the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community bid from Essex County Council to deliver a new single carriageway link road and works to unlock up to 7,500 homes.

But it has been called a “desperate” attempt to push though housing.

Rosie Pearson, from Campaign Against Urban Sprawl in Essex, said: “I just think it is so symptomatic of the whole government desperation to deliver homes at all costs.

“The £218m for Chelmsford and £100m for Colchester are large sums of money but they are a drop in the ocean compared to what they need for the level of growth they want.

“If you think 43,000 homes are planned for the three new towns then £100m is nothing.

“Our maths suggest that the government will need to subsidise West Tey – the biggest one – by £1.8bn.

“Unlocking housing is not the right way to deliver infrastructure. We need the infrastructure we need first and then put in the housing.”

The new station is anticipated to attract new high-grade offices, research and development facilities.

And housing prices in Beaulieu could increase by 20 per cent just from the affects of a new station.

Essex property expert Russell Quirk said: “The long awaited rail station will boost property demand at Beaulieu considerably and therefore prices.

“Over the next three years as the station nears its opening date, you can expect to see prices rise by anything between 10 per cent and 20 per cent.

“Transport infrastructure is one of the fundamentals of property desirability and here, providing access to London Liverpool Street in 45 minutes or so, Beaulieu has just become a consideration on the London commuters’ wish list.”

Chelmsford City Council has said the North-East Bypass will relieve congestion on local roads from people travelling between Chelmsford, Braintree, Stansted Airport, South Essex and the Lower Thames Crossing. It will also relieve traffic through White Hart Lane in Springfield.

Beaulieu is growing fast. Last year saw the opening of Beaulieu Park Primary School – part of Essex’s first all-through school, with the secondary school expected in September.

In early July, it was announced that a further area of development already planned in North-East Chelmsford has been selected as a garden village by the government.

There will be 5,500 homes in the new Chelmsford Garden Village, alongside 45,000 square metres of high-tech business space and large swathes of parkland for people to enjoy.

Including the garden village, almost 9,000 more homes are allocated in the Local Plan for the area between now and 2036.

Councillor Mike Mackrory, Cabinet Member for Greener Chelmsford, said: “This is absolutely wonderful news for our city.

“Securing £218m funding for these two projects is a massive step forward in delivering the required infrastructure for Chelmsford’s new Local Plan.

“It’s the last piece of the jigsaw, helping us to make sure that the new homes we are required to build are properly supported by sustainable transport networks and job opportunities.

“A great deal of hard work has gone into this bid on the part of both city and county council officers and I am thrilled that it has been successful.”

Councillor Stephen Robinson, Leader of Chelmsford City Council, added: “This has been worked towards for over 20 years.

“We need this kind of infrastructure before housing is built, and the city council will continue to push that.”