CAMPAIGNERS fighting against a 1,500-home development alongside a beauty spot have made their final points to a planning inspector.

A 12-day inquiry into Acorn Braintree's Brook Green development came to an end today, September 21, with both sides making their closing statements.

The developer wants to build the new estate either side of the Flitch Way between Braintree and Rayne and has agreed to fund a new doctors surgery, primary school and also highways improvements as part of its plan.

Residents in Rayne have expressed concerns they will lose their village lifestyle if the plans go ahead with more than 1,000 people signing a petition against the initial application.

In its closing statement, the No Brook Green action group, said: "Braintree and Rayne are distinct. They are both historic and both have a very different identity.

"They are, despite being geographically close, very separate. That sense of separation is significant.

"Rayne is a village in a rural setting with a strong sense of community and place.

"This development, outside of the settlement boundary, is not a natural urban extension. It juts out of Braintree and in fills almost the entire geographical gap between Braintree and Rayne.

"It is of real significance that the land has previously been deemed 'green wedge' and has been democratically identified in the emerging local plan as green buffer."

Protestors have also been fighting against the developer's desire to put an all-weather surface over the Flitch Way.

It continued: "It is not just a path through some unremarkable fields as the developer would have you conclude.

"There is something magical and unique about the Flitch Way between Rayne and Braintree that is so hard to articulate but it is precious.

"Many of the letters you have received refer to the destruction of the Flitch Way by this appeal scheme. What they mean is the destruction of the essence of it.

"A path though a housing estate is a path though a housing estate. This is the Flitch Way but it will be that in name alone if this is granted. I cannot emphasis enough the huge colossal harm this would cause the local community."

Planning inspector Richard Clegg will now decided on the appeal on behalf of the Housing Secretary with a decision expected in the coming months.