A PRESSURE group is to formally call on Colchester Council to reverse its declaration of a climate emergency as plans for building homes on Middlewick edge closer to materialising.

Grace Darke, who is the co-ordinator of Eco Colchester, said the lack of attention being paid to the environmental impact of building over the wildlife site defeats the purpose of Colchester Council’s climate emergency declaration in July 2019.

Plans to build on Middlewick Ranges have been met with stiff opposition from environmentalists and residents, who argue the plans would break the pledge made by Prime Minister Boris Johnson not to build homes on green fields.

Recent statistics which show the population of Colchester has risen by 11 per cent in the past ten years, however, have strengthened the calls from some quarters that further housing development is needed.

And should the plans be finalised at a key meeting about the Wick this evening, Eco Colchester co-ordinator Grace Darke said the pressure group would formally call on the council to revoke its climate emergency declaration.

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She said: “We’ve become more and more frustrated by the lack of real action Colchester Council is taking [on climate change] – they are not getting to the root of the problem.

“It was 2019 they made the climate emergency declaration [but] the adoption of Middlewick  isn’t demonstrating that at all, especially the way the council is going about it.

“When you build 1,000 houses in an area which already exceeds legal limits for air pollution, there’s no way that air quality is going to be improved.”

And Mrs Darke, who is a 37-year-old mum-of-two, argued if the council presses ahead with the housing development on Middlewick, it would fly in the face of evidence which emphasises the importance of green spaces.

“We can’t survive without protecting the environment, and the science is stacking up [to prove that].

“It doesn’t make sense that we know this information and evidence shows us what needs to be done, and yet there we are removing [an important area environmentally].

“They have chosen to ignore a lot of science if they go ahead with this.”