Activists raise £10k to fight plans to build homes

Campaigners have long protested against plans to build homes on the former Army training base in Colchester

Activists opposed to the building of homes on a wildlife haven said they were "starting to see the fruits" of years of campaigning.

The Friends of Middlewick have raised £10,000 in a week to cover legal costs should plans to develop 1,000 homes on Colchester’s Middlewick Ranges go ahead.

The fundraiser was launched in coalition with several wildlife and conservation charities, including Buglife and Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

Colchester City Council said it was "undertaking a comprehensive review" of its local plan, which campaigners want the development to be removed from.

The Middlewick Ranges in Colchester have been earmarked for up to 1,000 homes

Campaigners have staged protests over the course of eight years, calling for the site to be turned into a nature reserve.

Richard Martin from the Friends of Middlewick group said: "I live basically on its doorstep and have walked there for the last 30 years.

"Middlewick is one of the last big, wildlife spaces in Colchester that has been allowed to do its own thing and create such a wonderful ecology.

"It would be a big loss for the people of Colchester, those who live near it and for the UK were it to be taken away."

Campaigner Richard Martin has called on Colchester City Council to remove the proposed development from its local plan

Mr Martin said the amount of money already raised had "exceeded all expectations" and called on councillors to remove the development from the local plan.

"If they don’t take it out, we have no choice but to go down the legal route and this money gives us a good start and a fighting chance.

"We are starting to see the fruits of eight years of campaigning."

Colchester City Council said the ongoing ecological survey of Middlewick Ranges was being carefully considered and that "the latest evidence" would be incorporated into the decision-making process.