THE strength of feeling for and against a proposed multimillion-pound heritage centre in Great Horkesley has left council officers struggling to cope.

Tens of thousands of residents and organisations have voiced their feelings on whether the Horkesley Park heritage centre should see the light of day.

Lyn Barton, Colchester councillor responsible for planning, said the sheer numbers of responses to the scheme would have caused problems for the department, no matter how many staff they had.

She said: “I think we’ve received 22,000 cards. They need to be processed on the system. It has clogged up the system and it’s very difficult to manage.”

Those in favour of the £20million heritage centre include Colchester MP Bob Russell, who believes it would be a major tourist attraction in Constable Country, and the East of England Development Agency.

A petition of 22,839 individual postcards, collected by applicant Bunting and Sons before the bid was submitted, have also been sent in support.

But protesters, led by the Stour Valley Action Group, fear the centre would upset the peace and tranquility of the Dedham Vale.

Overall, more than 31,000 representations have been submitted to Colchester Council regarding Horkesley Park.

Council officers are still to make a final recommendation on the scheme ahead of a planning committee vote next month.

But an initial report from officers representing planning policy, enterprise, tourism and transportation said the benefits of tourism and job creation were outweighed by the traffic the centre would bring.

Kate Bunting, from Bunting and Sons, said it was in talks with the planning policy team about its proposals.