West Braintree [Great Sailing & Stebbing] pre-development new town site visit

A spring visit around one of the selected sites for the North Essex Garden Communities, 'West Braintree'. As it stands, the site is very much quintessential Essex countryside, with productive agricultural land and rustic villages nearby, including: Finchingfield [ranked one of the nicest places to live by the Sunday Times], Great Sailing, Shalford, Great Bardfield and Wethersfield. Of the three potential locations, this is site has arguably the least existing infrastructure to support the new community, although does have nearby access to the A120 and Stanstead Airport. However, one must question the feasibility of this new community, and the infrastructural impact it will have on the surrounding scenic villages.

Productive agricultural land that will potentially be developed into housing

Local group objection posters scattered throughout the site

Will informal rural routes and conditions be maintained or altered in the formal development?

Rural threshold conditions

Vast regions of land that will potentially be developed by the local and county council