The plight of villagers in Earls Colne fighting the seemingly never-ending flow of new housing schemes will be a familiar story to many.

Residents set up an action group to fight against new housing, collect hundreds of signatures opposing such developments and then wait for the democratic process to kick in.

Only to discover the dice seem to be loaded in favour of the developers.

Quite simply, it doesn't matter how many people object to a planning application.

There are many reasons planners can give for turning down an application, but strength of public opinion isn't one of them.

So when developers seemingly steamroll through estate after estate, it is hardly surprising – as in Earls Colne – that residents feel their views are being ignored.

You can argue that planning laws are there to prevent NIMBY-ism blocking developments that should be given the green light.

But at the same time, ignoring public opinion leaves people feeling helpless and frustrated.

Especially at a time when it seems the only thing that matters to the economy is to relentlessly build more and more houses, changing the face of some of our communities forever.

It's almost impossible to strike a balance.

What is certain is the current system can appear horribly undemocratic at times.