Plans for a new £100million road to enable a 9,000-home garden community to be created have been approved - despite residents' opposition.

The new A133/A120 link road, along with a Rapid Transport System to the east of Colchester, is being funded with £99million of Government money.

The cash has been secured by Essex County Council to deliver infrastructure for a new garden town.

The road will leave the A133 via a roundabout east of the University of Essex, cutting across 2.4km of farmland to join the A120 east of Bromley Road.

Councillors voted the plans through by a majority of seven, along with new access routes to Ardleigh South Services and Colchester waste transfer station as well as three new roundabouts.

There was though criticism from parish councillors and residents.

Councillor Andrea Luxford-Vaughan, representing Elmstead Parish Council, which had earlier laid out a number of objections to the link road, said: “There is no evidence that it is justified in a regional road capacity.

“It ignores all current reviews on road building and will have a very detrimental effect on wildlife, ancient woodland, cultural heritage air quality and noise and light pollution.”

A spokesman for Ardleigh South Services said the scheme would make the business “unviable”.

He said: “It denies direct ingress and egress from and to the A120, instead being served by a spur of road between the A133 and A120 for west bound traffic cutting out the dumbbell roundabout.

“The difference between traffic flows between the current arrangement and the post-scheme projects form Essex highways are stark – a 78 per cent reduction in potential customers.”

Council officer James Davidson said that signs would be installed for the services but the designs were the only way to make the link road safe for motorists.

He said: “We have had working group meetings with Tendring and Colchester to align the designs with the objectives of the garden community.

“The scheme does not physically direct traffic onto Elmstead Road but we have acknowledged the indirect impact because road users will have the choice and while the scheme is not generating traffic it is likely to redistribute the existing traffic.

“We have put forward a way of dealing with the issues including closure of the central reserve gap of the A133 to prevent turning collisions and we propose further traffic movement restrictions.”