CAMPAIGNERS have urged the powers that be behind multi-billion pound blueprints to deliver on the green vision they have set out.

Transport East has drawn up its 30-year plan to improve travel connections in Essex with the aim of creating stronger links to Norfolk, Suffolk and between Stansted airport and the north east Essex coast.

The group said decarbonisation to net zero, connecting growing towns and cities and energising coastal and rural communities are among its priorities.

It hopes to reduce emissions from transport by building new homes carefully so people do not need to drive as often and aims to make it easier for people to use greener methods of travel, rather than a car.

It comes after a public consultation on the scheme closed on Sunday.

Read more: 30 year £6bn blueprint for transport in east of England criticised

But environmental campaigner Rosie Pearson, who fought against plans for two garden communities in the north Essex countryside, has called on Transport East to reaffirm its green stance.

Along with other campaigners, she wants the body to prioritise funding for cycling, walking and public transport and put a freeze on new traffic-inducing road building.

She also wants the current transport infrastructure to be addressed and improved, rather than further building, and the pros and cons of different transport approaches to be weighed up.

Mrs Pearson added: “Transport East’s consultation starts with all the right words, but when you delve into the projects that are proposed, it’s clear that it’s more of the same: road-based growth.

“What the region desperately requires is a plan that moves away from road building and focuses on an integrated rural and urban public transport service and safe cycling routes for school children and commuters.

“That, perhaps funded by workplace charging, as introduced with great success in Nottingham, will be the only way we can cut carbon emissions and improve air quality for the people of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.”

Unlocking international gateways at the region’s ports and airports are also central to the plan, while the A120 west at Stansted, through to Braintree, via the A12 to Colchester and then to Harwich and Clacton was listed as a key focus.