PLANS have been unveiled to build 70 news homes in a village.

Eastlight Community Homes and George Tanner (Shalford) have launched a bid to build the homes in Bocking Christchurch.

The plans would see 70 homes built on land south of Bovingdon Road, next to the River Pant.

Eastlight was formed by a merger between Colne Housing and Greenfields Community Housing last year, and pledged to bring 3,800 homes to Essex and Suffolk.

Developers sought planning permission to build 86 homes on the same site in 2019.

The application for 86 homes was set to go before Braintree Council’s planning committee before the developers withdrew the bid, which was recommended for refusal.

The new bid has reduced the number of homes by 16, with 35 built as social housing.

Homes on the site will be mixture of two storey houses with a few bungalows with each house to get off-street parking.

A planning statement on behalf of the developers said: “The applicant is seeking approval in principle to develop the site for 70 dwellings and for the site access to be granted detailed consent.

“It would nestle into a largely contained and framed site set next to the adjoining dwellings in Peter Taylor Avenue thereby resulting in a limited influence beyond the site itself and its immediate setting.

“Thereby it is submitted that the proposed development would not be harmful to the character and appearance of the landscape or local countryside."

Braintree Council is due to make a decision on the application at a later date.