WORRIED residents have spoken out about their fears over plans to build a housing estate on the green-belt occupied by an old farm, farmhouse and paddock.

Concerns have been raised over the proposals to demolish Maitland Lodge, in Southend Road, Great Burstead, and build 47 homes in its place.

Maitland Lodge is currently surrounded by acres of green space.

Despite it being a designated green belt area, the site was included in Basildon Council’s local plan, setting out new housing plans to be built and developed in the borough by 2034.

The plan’s aim is to build 15,260 houses in total.

This planning application, submitted by Nexus Planning on behalf of Inland Homes, is one of the first local plan sites to be submitted.

The plans include one and two-bedroom flats as well as three and four-bedroom houses with up to 14 of the 47 homes proposed as affordable homes.

Mike Andrews, chairman of Billericay Action Group, says members of the group and residents are very disappointed with the plans.

He said he will object to the council’s local plan with the planning inspector.

He said: “I think most of the residents are disappointed with the application.

“This as a local plan has been ongoing for a long time and we’ve read so many different options.

“We we want to start and see some stability in the 2016 proposed plan.

“All the people that come here and move here are going to be commuters and there’s going to be extra traffic.

“The station is also not going to be able to cope with the extra people.

“We disagree with the the local plan and we will go to the planning inspector as that’s what the residents seem to feel.

“It feels like developers have come here to just try and make some money.

“We have to have this built in a way that is sustainable.

“If we have 3,300 houses that’s about 9,000 people in population but we have to take into account the additional things that come with the houses.

“We need the supporting infrastructure and everything that comes with it like schools and jobs.

“Where are the residents going to work and how are the roads going to cope?”