ANGRY residents have clashed with councillors over fears Castle Point’s green belt could be swamped by hundreds of homes.

At a meeting they challenged councillors’ inability to agree a Local Development Plan, claiming the delaywas wasting public money and putting green spaces at risk. They said Castle Point Council should simply refuse outright to allow green belt development.

Councillors replied that the Government had ordered them to allow between 200 and 342 newhomes a year for the next 15 years – and without using the green belt, they would run out of sites.

Tory deputy council leader Jeffrey Stanley said: “We are running out of time to submit our Local Development Plan and there are not enough brownfield sites.”

Boyce ward councillor Norman Smith admitted it was proving hard to agree on sites, speaking of developers “circling the borough like vultures”.

However, campaigner Sharon Knight asked: “Why does the local plan not just say no to building on the green belt?

“You need to tell the Government we don’t want this number of homes.

“You need to tell developers, ‘no, you cannot have our green belt’.

“If you don’t, then you will have sold us down the river