IT is open season for developers with more controversial homes plans likely to be approved, a former member of Braintree Council’s local plan committee has claimed.

Last week plans to build 205 homes on the edge of Halstead were approved, the the planning committee admitting its hands were tied by a lack of local plan.

Councillor John O’Reilly Cicconi resigned from the local plan committee last month, claiming he could not continue with the “means justifies the end” approach to planning.

He said: “Unfortunately, having a thorough plan in place takes a lot of work and time.

“The planning committee is correct in saying its hands are tied, but I don’t think the responsibility falls at its feet.

“Either you have a local plan in place, or you are meeting your fiveyear housing supply, we have done neither.

“I don’t think the planning committee can take the blame, there has only been one major delay, and that came down to central government.

“Our previous plan was ready to be submitted, but then the amount of houses wer needed suddenly upgraded and we had to start again.”

Braintree Council’s local plan is due to be submitted next month.

But until the plans are approved, the councillor admitted he feared a many more plans could be approved.

Mr Cicconi added: “Town’s like Halstead are hugely vulnerable.

“It is open season at the moment, and unfortunately more planning applications will be approved.

“It is hard for the public, because all they see is more and more plans granted permission, while they deal with the queues at the doctors surgery.

“This country has a backwards system at the moment, where houses have to be built before the infrastructure is delivered and that is hard for residents.”

Many Halstead residents complained that they felt underrepresented on the planning committee, but Mr Cicconi admitted this feeling would increase ten-fold if an alternative was in place.

He said: “The only alternative is a central authority who make all these decisions.

“And if residents think decision makers are disconnected now, it would be a lot worse then.

“We do not have a blank canvas to draw on in this country, and new homes will be in close proximity to others.

“Now we have been left in a position where our population is increasing but we simply do not have enough houses.”