A NEW community will soon be constructed after plans to build a 119-home housing estate were given the final go-ahead.

Developer Sue Silver, had been personally campaigning for the project, at White Lodge, off Sewardstone Road, Waltham Abbey, for more than three years after suffering homelessness, herself.

Ms Silver was forced to live in a hostel in 1991, before she was granted a home by a housing association and has campaigned ever since for extra social housing.

Her Waltham Abbey project, which has now been given full planning permission by Epping Forest District Council, will include 95 affordable homes, a community building and a shop.

It had previously faced strong objections, as it will be built in the Green Belt, but Ms Silver had already gained outline permission, and councillors agreed there were only aspects of design to be agreed to.

Planning Committee vice-chairman Cllr Pat Brooks said: “It was just details really. There weren’t a lot of questions.

“I must admit I voted against the original plan because it’s in Green Belt and I felt it was in the land between two towns, which is what Green Belt is all about. But there’s also the need for houses somewhere and I guess that’s the overriding consideration. It will provide much needed houses.”