IT has emerged that members and officers at Maldon District Council(MDC) have grave concerns over the plans put forward for the widening of the A12 - fearing it will bring potential traffic chaos to the local road network.

The 'Preliminary Design' public consultation on the scheme runs until 16 August - and MDC is a consultee in the process. Councillors and officers have attended multiple workshops and briefings on the plans prior to the release of the proposed changes running between Chelmsford and the A120 - and have been left "perturbed", "surprised" and questioning the logic of the plans.

The concerns are revealed in the strongly-worded response letter to be sent to Highways England on the proposed design, which has been drafted by officers and will be debated and voted on by councillors at a meeting of MDC's Strategy and Resources Committee tomorrow evening (Thursday, 15 July).

At more than one point in the response, the council indicates that Maldon and Heybridge appear to have been treated as though they don't exist.

As a result, the draft letter contains objections from MDC to the following proposed plans:

The closure of junctions 20b and 20b and replacement of new junction 21 serving all local connections including Witham, Hatfield Peveral and Maldon

Here the council's draft letter states: "The council raises an objection to the preliminary design of new junction 21. It does not address the significant and long-standing congestion issues at the B1019 Maldon Road/B1137 Duke of Wellington mini roundabout in Hatfield Peverel that currently access/exit junctions 20a and 20b (to be removed as part of the project)."

The letter goes on to give full reasoning for the objection and details of the issues the council believes will be caused by the proposed scheme.

Junction 22 (Coleman's Bridge)

Here the council letter says: "The council objects to the design of junction 22 in consideration of access to and from the A12 within the Maldon district via Little Braxted Lane, which is a single lane route with passing places and single lane bridge crossing (Grade II listed).

"Little Braxted Lane is suitable for cars and small vans only and not HGVs. The project should consider improvements to the local road network."

Again, the letter carries on to discuss the problems here in more detail.

Junctions 23 (Kelvedon South Interchange) and Junction 24 (Kelvedon North) Kelvedon/Feering: the removal of junctions to the North and South of the villages and these and Tiptree served with a new junction off the Inworth Road.

Here, the letter states: "The council questions the project to relieve the impact of Tiptree traffic through Kelvedon High Street and Feering with a new junction off the Inworth Road to Hatfield Peverel, needing a Maldon link road/Hatfield Peverel bypass from the new proposed junction 21.

"The project should relieve the impact of Maldon and Heybridge traffic on the Maldon Road/Duke of Wellington mini-roundabout in the centre of Hatfield Peverel village and improve connectivity for Maldon district residents and businesses to the national road network."

The conclusion of the letter contains the following statements, indicating the level of concern and despair felt by MDC over the major proposals, especially given the context of the thousands of planned new homes in the Maldon and Heybridge areas - with construction already either underway or at an advanced stage.

It reads: "How can we improve local air quality caused by congestions and queueing traffic on local road connections if the local road connections are not improved to connect to the A12?

"The council has serious concerns to be able to reduce the environmental impacts of traffic congestion and pollution existing on the local road networks if the project does not ensure an improved situation to connect to the A12 national road network for the future.

"These thoughts and concerns have been repeatedly raised through engagement with Highways England, Essex County Council and neighbouring authorities and should be at the heart of the project rather than leave a current situation to get worse before something is done."

Any member of the public wanting to leave their feedback on the A12 road widening proposals can find more information by visiting the Highways England website at the link here.