A district councillor has claimed that “Brightlingsea is not a happy community” because of plans that could see hundreds more homes built in the town by 2042.

Jayne Chapman told a Tendring District Council (TDC) planning meeting that building 400 new homes in Brightlingsea – 320 of them  on greenfield land off Samsons Road – would “fracture the town”, causing more traffic congestion and straining local services.

The meeting, on Monday December 8, was held to discuss the adoption of a district-wide plan to accommodate over 18,000 homes over the next 17 years, which would represent a 24% increase in the area’s housing stock. The targets have been mandated by the government as part of its drive to build 1.5m homes nationally by the end of the current parliament. For Tendring, this means building 1653 homes every year – the current annual rate is 550.

“We know these proposals will be contentious,” TDC’s corporate director of planning and community, Gary Guiver, told councillors. He said a plan for the district has to be submitted to government at the end of 2026, following public consultations.

“We have to our best to plan positively for growth and avoid the consequences that come as a result of not keeping the plan up to date,” said Mr Guiver. “Overall, officers have had to produce a plan that will meet government policy – their hands are tied to a certain extent.”

Although Cllr Chapman, a planning committee member, supported the proposed plan “reluctantly”, she questioned how the town could cope with such a large increase in housing stock.

“Anglian Water have stated they are struggling to get any more water into the town and Affinity cannot cope with any more dirty water. Our schools are full, dentists cannot take any more patients and our doctors cannot cope now,” she said.

She said development on the Samsons Road site had been refused before. “It is too far to walk in to the town and there is a lack of parking,’ she said. “This is the same site that was refused for our football club to move to because of light pollution. The same site that was refused because of the danger of extra cars coming out on to our one main road… and yet it’s now OK to build on.”

The proposed Lower Farm holiday park development off Robinson Road will only add to the town’s infrastructure problems, she said.

Cllr Chapman suggested that some of the homes could be built instead on the former Well House site in Chestnut Way. “Yes, it has a covenant on it [preventing non-care home use] but surely with government dictating numbers they should be approached to get that covenant removed from land that has been derelict for several years.”

She told officers: “I do understand the situation you’re in and I do sympathise with what you’ve been thrown. But as an elected member I have to represent my residents and I can confirm that Brightlingsea is not a happy community.”

Earlier in the meeting Brightlingsea town councillor Mat Court addressed the meeting “in a personal capacity” as the town council had not yet met to discuss the plans “thanks to tight deadlines”.

He told councillors that if the proposals went ahead “you will be starting a fight you don’t need to have – not because people oppose homes, but because they oppose poorly-planned homes that make life worse for everyone already living here”.

He said the Thorrington Cross junction was over capacity, leading to two-mile queues to get out of town at peak times. “Now we are being asked to take four times the previously accepted limit, with no road improvements, no public transport commitments and no mitigation whatsoever.”

He added: “We were told the infrastructure would follow past developments, instead the opposite has happened – no new GP or pharmacy capacity, no new NHS dentist, no improvement in public transport, the loss of 16+ education provision and loss of our sports centre.”

“Somehow Brightlingsea has been allocated 10% growth as if we are a well-connected town with multiple access points, not a coastal cul-de-sac,” he said, claiming that there were better connected areas in the district that could be expanded. “This plan fails the test of common sense, local knowledge and lived experience.”

Committee members and parish council representatives from other areas in the district had similar objections regarding over-development, increased traffic and infrastructure issues. But Andy Baker, TDC cabinet member for housing and planning cabinet member, said “We are we are because we’ve been imposed upon, however, this is our chance to decide where the houses are going.”

The plan was adopted unanimously and will be brought before full council for final approval early in 2026.