A traffic expert has warned Colchester and Wivenhoe’s roads could buckle under plans for more than 9,000 new homes.

Wivenhoe town councillor Rick Andrew told a Local Plan meeting the area cannot cope with the extra traffic, says the Colchester Gazette.

Focusing on the Tendring Colchester Borders Garden Community, he said: “I don’t object to the housing allocations as such, they are what they are.

“I have grave concerns about the infrastructure, which I don’t believe is adequate at all to support 21,000 new residents.

“You’ll need much, much more investment in public transport in particular, and active travel to cater for the huge increase of 6,000 new cars.

“To cut the extra traffic generated by 21,000 new residents, which is estimated to produce 6,000 more cars on the road – this, I believe, is likely to be an underestimate, because it relies on 21,000 new jobs being provided, which seems to me to be wishful thinking.”

He said: “My big concern is, this claims to be promoting sustainable transport, it proposes zero investment in rail.

“We need more stations, a station at Stanway would alleviate traffic on the A12, a station by the garden community would alleviate traffic on the A133.”

(Picture: Mapillary)