Campaigners and residents have hit back at a decision to give a £100m link road the green light.

The new A133/A120 link road, along with a Rapid Transport System to the east of Colchester, is being funded with £99million of Government money secured by Essex County Council to deliver infrastructure to help support a new garden town of 9,000 homes.

The planned route will leave the A133 via a roundabout east of the University of Essex, cutting across 2.4km of open arable farmland before joining the A120 via a junction east of Bromley Road.

Councillors voted the plans through by a majority of seven.

But residents of Mount Pleasant Cottages say Essex County Council’s refusal to buy their property estimated to be just 63metres away from the new road has badly affected them.

Simon and Adele High say they will be putting their house on the market after Christmas and if they cannot sell it at market rate the council can expect blight proceedings to follow.

Development campaigner Rosie Pearson also had harsh words for the decision given it was made during COP26 negotiations and an alternative for a “green cordon” were not properly aired.

She said a Green Cordon model would mean access to Colchester from the south of the “garden community”, would only be by foot, bike or bus.

Residents of the new development would be able to access the strategic road network via a spur road onto the A120.

A spokesperson for Essex County Council said: “We of course accept this is an emotive issue and hopefully the planning approval gives a degree of certainty for the homeowner.

“We recognise that the Mount Pleasant cottages will be affected by the new link road running nearby, and appropriate assessments have been carried out and mitigation proposed to reduce this impact.

“These measures are set out in the Environmental Statement and associated documents and form part of the planning process.

“We have and will continue to liaise with both sets of homeowners at the cottages to discuss mitigation options moving forward as well as any future blight application they wish to bring forward.”