Controversial plans for a caravan park are progressing.

Strutt and Parker has been informed by Maldon District Council that an environmental impact assessment (EIA) will be needed in connection with a proposal for 70 static caravans at Bradwell Marina, Waterside Road.

The development site is 6.6 hectares, making it about the size of nine football pitches, and it is currently grassland.

It falls with a Special Landscape and The Coastal Zone in the council’s 2005 development plan.

According to the developer’s report, Natural England was consulted in relation to a similar scheme in December 2012 and “advised that the proposal is not likely to have a significant impact” on the nearby Blackwater Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Villagers claim another caravan site could turn the area into the next Jaywick and would double the size of Bradwell’s population.