A POPULAR beauty spot has been saved from development after planners U-turned on proposals for a major expansion of the University of Essex.
The whole eastern side of Salary Brook in Greenstead, Colchester, will instead be turned into a country park after plans were revised.
The announcement was made at a meeting of the joint committee overseeing the Tendring/Colchester Border Garden Community vision on Monday evening.
The new community will see between 7,500 and 9,000 homes built on the border near Elmstead and constructed over the next 20 years.
As part of the original plans, the University of Essex was expected to spill over from Knowledge Gateway onto the hillside of Salary Brook.
But the site will instead now be “protected and enhanced as an important corridor for wildlife conservation and informal recreation”.
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It will also be renamed as Salary Brook Country Park.
The new development plan agreed by councillors addresses concerns about the visual impact of the proposed land and how it will impact the environment north of the A133, near Salary Brook.
The plan now recommends any development should be moved further east on the northern side of the A133.
Colchester High Steward Sir Bob Russell hailed the decision a “wonderful outcome”.
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“We can now look forward to a significant area of country park to the east of Salary Brook,” said the former MP.
“This success provides proof that it is possible to get a U-turn from hitherto declarations in council documents that unwelcome developments can be prevented.
“I would like to thank Greenstead councillors Julie Young and Tim Young for all they have done to help bring about this wonderful outcome.”
As part of the £99 million scheme, a link road connecting the A120 and A133 is to be built along with a rapid transit system.
The transport system will provide services every few minutes between Colchester’s Park and Ride by the A12, the city centre, the University of Essex and the new housing development in the east.
Colchester Council leader said the revised plans are “the culmination of exceptionally careful work, listening and reflecting on what local people want to see”.
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