COLCHESTER MP Will Quince told the committee the grounds for removing Middlewick Ranges from the local plan are “numerous and compelling”.

In a statement read out at the meeting, Mr Quince said he had “consistently” spoken out against the inclusion of the Wick in the plan.

He said: “I have supported residents and community groups and remain in full support of their ongoing opposition to build houses and have worked to persuade the MoD to abandon plans to sell the Wick.

“I understand the need for housing, particularly for affordable and for social rent.

“But it is clear to me that Colchester Council did not need to allocate 1,000 homes on Middlewick Ranges in the local plan.”

He added: “The grounds for removing Middlewick from the local plan are numerous and compelling.

“Most recently I met with the minister for defence procurement Jeremy Quin in March to outline my continued opposition to the sale.

“However, the frustrating reality is the MoD will not simply withdraw the site from its disposal list, especially as the council included Middlewick in the local plan and allocated it for 1,000 homes, a decision which went against the wishes of local residents and was completely unnecessary, especially given the lateness of the application by the defence infrastructure organisation.”

He said he has raised particular concerns about the “rare lowland acid grassland, which would be lost if development were to go ahead”.

“On that basis, viability for development must be questioned,” he said “This committee has the chance to right this wrong and stand with local residents. I urge you to be bold and do the right thing.”

Colchester Council leader David King told the committee he was “troubled” by the idea of building on Middlewick.

“Who wouldn’t be,” he said.

But he said the decision is “a big picture” that must manage how different pressures on the borough are managed.

He said: “For infrastructure, for house building and for development and the need to live and have good open space – how all of that is managed.

“The wrong thing would be not to adopt the local plan and it’s because the right thing to do is take a sensible view of the quality of advice that’s given to us.

“I accept the advice about the time it takes. We’ve seen it in this local authority and we’ve seen it elsewhere – to revise, restart, and have another crack at a local plan because of the understandable passions about one part of the whole.”