Uttlesford District Council will meet representatives from other local authorities as it gears up to fight plans for a 5,000-home eco town near Elsenham.

The Local Government Association is organising a meeting in May, through which councils will be able to ascertain the level of support, or otherwise, for the proposals announced by central government earlier this month.

Cllr Jim Ketteridge, leader of Uttlesford District Council, said: “We hope that through this meeting, councils will collectively be able to move forwards on the eco town issue and focus central government on the areas where the proposals will be welcomed. Uttlesford is not one of those areas.”

The council has resolved to fight the eco town plan for Uttlesford amid concerns the development would take away any local choice in the matter of where future housing will be built in the district. Questions have also been raised over the accuracy of information in the government’s consultative paper.

A motion was passed at last Tuesday’s Full Council meeting, which states the council’s total opposition to the plan and pledges to support protestors in other areas where an eco town development would impact on Uttlesford.

Cllr Susan Barker, chair of the Environment Committee, said: “The suggestion of a new town by central government, with a minimum of 5000 houses is an imposition on this district and its residents and rides roughshod over local planning and democratic processes.”

The council is also questioning figures included in the government’s eco town consultation prospectus, which claims Uttlesford has almost 4,000 people on its housing waiting list. There are in fact 1,289 people on the council’s housing list at the present time.

The council is still working through the responses to its Local Development Framework consultation and has additional technical work underway. The council has been told to find locations for 4,200 extra homes in the district by 2024. Officers have advised members it is not yet clear if the eco town proposal would count towards this total - or be in addition to it.

John Mitchell, Interim Chief Executive, said: “Officers have briefed councillors on the eco town proposals, setting out the process the council will now be going through and describing some of the issues surrounding the plans.

“We have advised members that in our view failing to complete the necessary technical work and failing to consider all the responses to the LDF consultation process thoroughly could leave the council's strategy being declared unsound at the public examination of the LDF plans. This examination will take place after the council has published its final proposals.

“We have also advised that proposals for development at Elsenham had been around long before the council commenced the LDF process and therefore the government would have been aware of the potential for an eco town on the site irrespective of whether the site was included in our LDF proposals.” Ends Notes to editors The full text of the motion passed by Full Council is as follows: This council is totally opposed to the development of an eco town north east of Elsenham, as proposed in the Department of Communities and Local Government’s consultative paper, “Eco Towns”- living a greener future” published on Thursday 3April and will campaign to have this proposal removed from the shortlist. We will also support objectors to other locations that would be detrimental to our district.