HOUSING projections, which include increasing the number of homes in Colchester by 34,000 over 20 years, have been described as “madness” by Essex County Council.

County Hall has delivered a fierce rebuttal to a report, by the East of England Regional Assembly, which outlines four different growth scenarios for Essex, between 2011 and 2031.

The assembly’s projections suggest 31,000 houses would need to be built in Essex, every year, during the 20-year period.

In its response to the projections, the council claims factors, such as the recession, the county’s infrastructure and employment rates, were not taken into consideration.

The reply, which was approved by cabinet members, including leader Lord Hanningfield, said: “None of the scenarios are acceptable, since they fail to reflect the impact of the severe UK economic recession on housing, employment and infrastructure delivery.”

With regards to growth in Colchester, the response said: “The borough already has a challenging housing target to achieve under the existing East of England Plan, including bringing forward complex, extensive and difficult brownfield sites with the urban area of Colchester.”

John Jowers, councillor responsible for localism and planning, said: “These proposals, for up to 31,000 homes a year in Essex, were crazy when they were first announced by the Government. But, on analysis of the data, they just seem like madness now.

“We are not against growth, and we are doing work which is second to none across Essex.

“But we simply have to make a stand against unsustainable growth which the Government seems determined to press on us, which would destroy communities and put intolerable burdens on the lives of our residents.”

Adrian Cannard, head of planning and housing at the assembly, said it would consider all responses before issuing a draft plan in the new year.

He said: “The data we use is based on the Office for National Statistics. We have given a range of different growth scenarios.

“These are broad scenarios, looking at overall growth, and we have asked authorities to say what infrastructure is needed to look at any of these.

“We realise we need substantial Government money to improve the infrastructure.”