Ribbon development is just not on

I HOPE you are overwhelmed with objections to the so-called eco-village proposed for the open country between Dunmow and Braintree. Nobody is fooled by this trendy new name for a new housing estate. For all its solar panels it creates exactly the same p

I HOPE you are overwhelmed with objections to the so-called eco-village proposed for the open country between Dunmow and Braintree.

Nobody is fooled by this trendy new name for a new housing estate.

For all its solar panels it creates exactly the same problems, traffic and pollution as any other estate and uses just as much water. Water is scarce even for the real villages of this area.

There was once a railway from Bishop's Stortford to Braintree. Every suggestion of restoring it has been met by cynical silences.

Had it been restored there could be an argument for enlarging the settlements round its stations.

Ribbon development along roads is a different matter entirely. When you have connected Dunmow to Braintree what next?

Eventually the urbanisation stretches from Chelmsford to Cambridge, linking the A12 to the A14.

Braintree has already ballooned out towards Chelmsford. Its horrific new industrial estate is heading east along the A120. Does anyone care if Braintree and Dunmow eventually merge?

The inhabitants of Rayne, the Salings, Stebbing, and Stebbing Green and the Felsted greens certainly do.

Hugh Johnson OBE

Saling Hall

Great Saling