GREEN campaigners are urging councillors to strongly oppose plans for 4,000 homes between Basildon and Brentwood over the “crippling effects” it will have on Laindon and Langdon Hills.

The Dunton garden village, a 4,000-home development on green belt, has been approved by Brentwood Council, with the 700-acre site being 50 per cent bigger than Langdon Hills and bordering Laindon.

The South West Essex Green Party has launched a petition urging “residents of all stripes to stand with us for community-driven development”.

The South West Essex Green Party chairman and Laindon resident, Eugene McCarthy, 19, said: “It’s on the green belt, more than being just on the green belt, it’s on farmland, meaning we will have to import more food, the site is significantly closer to Laindon and it’s going to be a commuter suburb.

“There are no plans for local jobs beyond service jobs, like shopkeepers, and everyone will go on the A127.

“I have no idea where they will go - it’s already a nightmare and this will exacerbate those issues.”

Mr McCarthy also raised concerns over the impact on GP services, dentists, and schools.

He added: “The only possible benefits are commuters buying up homes elsewhere, it won’t be a huge difference to those in Laindon, the site is not made for local people and for young people, we have no chance of looking to buy a home.”

Basildon Langdon Hills independent councillor Val Robbins added: “I am devastated, it will be of no benefit to us, from my point of view I am quite upset, it is too much to ask, how many are on the social housing waiting list? It doesn’t benefit them.

“It’s on the green belt and it’s far enough from Brentwood, its on ours and when they say they are putting in an infrastructure, that will put pressure in the area.

“The problem is the A127, it’s a bunch of roundabouts and towards Basildon, when you go under the Rayleigh Weir, a lot of building, it’s making it an impossible place.

“It will impinge on Basildon, I am absolutely disgusted.