Cllr David King, Colchester Council Cabinet Member for Business and Resources, has been selected by the Council to join the Board of North Essex Garden Communities Ltd (NEGC).
Cllr King replaces Cllr Tim Young as the nominated Director for Colchester Borough Council.
NEGC Ltd is the company set up and owned by Colchester, Braintree, Tendring and Essex County Councils to enable them to take a greater role in the delivery of the Garden Communities, and to ensure they are built in the right way with an infrastructure-led ethos.
Cllr King said: “The Garden Community developments, and the principle of the North Essex Councils taking a more active role in ensuring the homes, jobs and supporting infrastructure are delivered, is one we should continue to explore and take forward.
“Over the coming decades we will see significant levels of population growth, so we need to have a long-term strategy that looks at homes, jobs, infrastructure, educational and health needs and transport issues.
“We also need the best and most affordable homes we can get. Homes in easy reach of places to work, with facilities, accessible green space and forming part of communities that work and which people can say meet their needs, to work, travel, live and play.
“The Garden Community developments can do that. We collectively have an opportunity to radically reshape the way housing is delivered over the next 50 years, creating not just homes but vibrant communities which set the standard for development in the future.
“Of course, in doing this we should also listen to the concerns of residents. Housing is often viewed negatively, because far too often our existing communities are let down by promises made in terms of the infrastructure needed to sustain them or because of the wrong sorts of homes coming forward. That needs to stop, and the role of NEGC Ltd is to ensure that situation changes.”