RESIDENTS have condemned proposals for a waste recycling plant to be built in Brightlingsea.

Hundreds of people have written to Essex County Council to oppose such a scheme and more than 1,500 have also signed a petition against the proposals.

They fear it would turn the historic “Cinque Port” into a “Stink Port”.

Residents argue that developing a four-acre site on Morses Lane would create traffic problems along the only road into Brightlingsea and be a smelly nuisance, close to shops and planned housing.

Last week, Brightlingsea Town Council wrote to the county council to say the site is “totally unsuitable”.

Over the past year, Essex County Council has been seeking sites for possible waste, identifying 19, but as yet no formal planning application for Morses Lane, on the edge of the town, has been made.

Brightlingsea mayor Karen Yallop said her town council sent a first letter of objection last April and another last week.

She said: “A lot of people have also sent in objections.

“We are fighting it.”

The town council letter said an existing recycling centre in the town already creates problems for and complaints from residents as it’s close to a residential area.

HGVs and frequent bus services already cause congestion, with 50 movements already taking place every hour.

The letter said: “All these movements have to pass by the Grade One listed building (All Saint’s Church) near the top of the hill, risking damage by vibration and pollution.

“Within the proximity of the site, there is a secondary school, a food store and a petrol station, all in a residential area.

“The site itself is currently agricultural land and does not meet any specific criteria for waste management, other than it being adjacent to a waste site.”

The letter added that Morses Lane was also too far away from where the waste, such as building rubble, would come from.

Brightlingsea resident Lynn Ballard said: “We are really worried about it.

“We have only one road in and one road out of Brightlingsea.

“It means another 500-plus lorries every day. The (B1029 Brightlingsea) road is dangerous enough already.

“There is too much traffic.”

Mrs Ballard, who lives in Richard Avenue, just off the High Street, said Essex County Council should instead use the “great swathes of empty land”

on the A120 around Frating.

She said of the county council: “They are using us as a dumping ground.

“We are an ancient Cinque Port. I would ask the planners not to make us a Stink Port.”

Essex County Council said a six-week consultation over its Waste Local Plan ended last week and no planning application has yet been made.

John Spence, County Hall’s councillor responsible for planning, confirmed: “The proposed site in Morses Lane, Brightlingsea, was supported as a suitable location for inert waste recycling by a Government- appointed inspector, along with 18 others across the county.