RESIDENTS have vowed to fight plans for a major housing estate on a huge area of green belt.

Nottinghamshire County Council confirmed it wants homes built on 126 acres of farmland, off Pound Lane, between Pitsea and Bowers Gifford, to raise money for its pension scheme.

The authority paid £4.2million for Little Chalvedon Hall and the land around it in January, as an investment purchase.

Although the land includes a house and three bungalows, according to a local property developer, the purchase price was at least double its market value.

A spokesman for Nottingham-shire County Council said: “It has been agreed to look at potential residential land developments as part of its wider property portfolio, as a result of the recent economic downturn and the need to have a wide range of investments.

“The fund has purchased Little Chalvedon Hall as part of this strategy.”

No planning application has been made, but the land has been put forward by agent Boyer Planning into a Basildon Council consultation over future housing sites.

Graham Walker, a Bowers Gifford and North Benfleet parish councillor, said a housing development could devalue homes in the semi-rural area., while the land is also enjoyed by dog walkers.

He said: “There are concerns among everyone round here that major development is being earmarked on the farmland.”

Robert Smillie, parish council chairman, feels Nottingham-shire County Council may have made a bad investment. He has been assured by Basildon councillors there are no plans to build on the land and they would resist any green belt development.

He said: “There would need to be a very large development to make it economical.

“If an application comes in, we will fight it and not let it go quietly.”

A Basildon Council spokesman said it had not been contacted by the county council to discuss potential development for the land.

He confirmed the site was being assessed under an ongoing strategic land assessment before a local planning development framework is published.