Huge new Essex town with 7,500 homes might not happen due to £60m link road funding problem
A local MP has warned that without extra financial help, a new Essex garden town planned to be built between Tendring and Colchester may not proceed. A new A133/A120 link road is planned to the east of Colchester to ease traffic to the new town, which will have 7,500 homes.
The road was to be built with £99 million of Government Housing Infrastructure Fund (HIF) money; however, the government has been warned that a £60 million funding gap must be filled, or else the whole development will stall as traffic becomes "intolerable."
Sir Bernard Jenkin, Conservative MP for Harwich and North Essex, told the House of Commons in a debate over the project's future: "The Government’s housing targets for Colchester and Tendring cannot be met without this vital new road. This development of 7,500 new homes is very substantial, but I support and understand the need for it. However, the development cannot be justified unless the road is completed in advance.
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"Indeed, without completion of the road, the developers may well stop investing in the houses because the traffic will be intolerable and the new homes found to be unsaleable.”
The proposed Tendring Colchester Borders garden community—or TCBGC—is located between the A120 and the A133 north of the University of Essex. It includes new primary and secondary schools, dedicated employment spaces, a nature reserve, and a commitment to 30 per cent affordable housing. However, with an expected significant increase in traffic, Sir Bernard said new direct access to the A120 and the A133 is essential for the development's viability while also significantly mitigating local traffic congestion.
The county council gave planning permission for the road in November 2021, which at the time was going to cost £70 million. However, in 2022, it was admitted that there was a risk that Homes England and the Treasury would not be willing to fund the gap. Instead, it was agreed that the road would be built in two phases.
Phase 1, paid for with the £99 million HIF money, will be the construction of the A133 roundabout plus a partial link road with multiple access arrangements to the garden community, terminating at a roundabout south of Allen’s Farm. Phase 2 will be a new junction on the A120 and completion of the link road funded through developer contributions from the development of Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community (TCBGC).
But Sir Bernard said that equated to around £8,000 contribution per home, which would be no longer viable, and projects such as new medical facilities intended to support the development would have to be abandoned. He added: “Remember that it is £8,000 per home just for the road. TCBGC will no longer be financially viable. Financial contributions through Section 106 will not be enough to cover the cost of Phase 2 of the road along with all the other essential infrastructure plans for this development.
“What has got to give? Will we finish up with more GP practices closing their lists and not accepting more patients, or more schools without places for local kids? Section 106 funding should be for local infrastructure, not for national infrastructure such as this proposed new A road.”
He added: "Without Phase 2 of the road being completed ahead of the new homes—which was the original intention—the most likely outcome is that the new garden community will be started and then stalled. There is already standstill traffic every day on the A133 where the southern end of the A1331 is intended to relieve traffic congestion. A few hundred new homes will just add to that gridlock."
The local authority partnership has yet to receive a planning application from the developer of the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community, Latimer, by Clarion Housing Group.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government (Rushanara Ali) added: "The A1331 link road, which will connect the A133 and A120. Over the past few years, infrastructure projects across the country have been affected by a number of unexpected factors, such as the pandemic, rising inflation, the shortage of skilled labour and other external events, and in a constrained fiscal environment, the Government have had to make tough decisions.
"Due to the escalation of the costs with the Tendring project, it is no longer possible to construct the entire link road with the funding available. Additionally, there continue to be delivery challenges with sections of the road, particularly in relation to land acquisition.
"In response to the request from Essex County Council in 2023, the previous Government made the decision to use the available grant to fund only phase 1 of the link road. I appreciate the hon. Member’s concerns about that descoping of the project. I assure him that, together with the first phase of the link road, the existing local road network is sufficient to support 5,000 homes in the garden community. Moreover, I assure him that the intention to deliver the full link remains.”