BRAINTREE District Council's decision to double its house-building programme to 800 new homes a year has nothing to do with immigration, leader Graham Butland has said.
The authority scrapped its Local Development Framework (LDF) on June 12 after new National Planning Policy Framework guidance was given to all councils by the Government.
The ditched blueprint for where housing should be built until 2026 originally predicted 4,080 homes, but a new Strategic Housing Market Assessment states that between 761 and 883 houses are needed in the district each year instead.
"I want to make it clear this increase has nothing to do with foreign immigrants. It's down to immigration into Braintree from other parts of the country," Mr Butland said. "After all, we're only 30 miles from London and why wouldn't people want to live here when your other alternatives are Colchester and Chelmsford.
"There is also a rising birth rate and falling death rate, people are living more independently in their homes for longer, so there is a shortage of one and two-bedroom houses."
The next LDF meeting will be on June 30, when the council will look to take the plan forward.
"This is only one piece of the jigsaw. Other evidence needs to come but it means a significant increase in what we are doing.
"We could try our luck and get an inspector that approves the current plan, but legal advice suggests it is likely to be turned down. When it's a huge cost like that, it's gambling with taxpayer's money."
A need for 400 affordable homes, almost half the new target, has also been identified.
"This is a problem for a lot of local authorities. The rules have been changed by Government and we are going to have to do a lot of work with partners on where developments will be in the future," added Mr Butland.
The council says developers that have previously had applications turned down may come back and try to get them resubmitted again and some existing sites may also be expanded.
Braintree may also develop a more substantial night-time economy as the authority says new homes will attract more jobs and businesses into the town centre with more chain restaurants attracted to the area's growing customer base.
Figures for the next LDF plan will be put to the council sometime in the autumn, when consultations on new sites will then be put to the public.
