VILLAGERS have put up a banner the length of an HGV lorry near a controversial quarry site to highlight the impact the additional vehicles could have on the area.
Members of the Stop The Quarry campaign group, that come from the villages of Little Braxted and Rivenhall, unfurled the 80ft sign along Little Braxted Lane, near the site of the proposed quarry at Coleman's Farm near Rivenhall on Friday last week.
Clare Dobie, leader of the group, said: "The road is in the wrong place so cars will come up at full pelt at 60 to 70 mph and won't see the lorries in time when they come round the bend. It represents a risk to all of those drivers that use the slip road.
"This is all prime agricultural land and this traffic and quarry will lead to the industrialisation of the landscape."
Developers are keen to build a quarry at the farm as part of the Essex County Council's Minerals Local Plan, which also includes quarries at Rayne, Great Leighs, Bradwell and Rivenhall Airfield.
Following a six-week consultation in February last year an independent planning inspector said the plan was "excessive", but only made only three modifications, such as identifying two sites at Bradwell as "reserves" rather than "preferred" locations.
But at a cabinet meeting in July Essex County Council approved the Mineral Local Plan and adopted it into its environmental strategy.
As a result developers could apply for planning permission to extract minerals from the approved sites, and the landowner of Coleman's Farm, Simon Bryce, applied for permission at the start of August.
John Gilvert, chairman of the parish council at Little Braxted, which borders the Coleman's farm site, said: "Ten years ago we thought we had knocked this site into touch, but it's come up again with slightly different specifications.
"It's an accident waiting to happen. It's wrong to put a gravel facility here, it's a rural side of the A12 and the farmland floods considerably when it rains.
The 57-year-old added: "The archaeology in this area has been disregarded by developers for many years. The restoration plan is a farce, I don't think the development of biodiversity should be done at the expense of the current wildlife that is already in this area.
The minerals plan, which was adopted in July 2014 by the county council, looks to excavate 40 million tonnes of gravel from across the county by 2029, 20 million tonnes of which would come from the four sites in the Braintree district.
Many residents fear the destruction of wildlife if the quarry is dug.
Ian Baker, who lives in Rivenhall, said: "This quarry will be massive and the access roads are so narrow, there will be so many lorries coming down to the entrance, it's an outrage.
"I saw an otter near here last week, they're very shy and nervous and easily scared when humans are around.
"The otter population has only just started to be reintroduced into this area and it would be terrible to lose them now because of this development."
Essex County Council cabinet member for planning, Councillor John Jowers said: "We are confident this plan will support Essex as it grows, without having a negative impact on our environment."
Today, a consultation into the ecology of the area finished.
A decision on the quarry plan is expected to be made by Essex County Council by Friday, March 27.
