PLANS for 145 homes in Fordingbridge have been submitted to New Forest District Council.

The proposals by Pennyfarthing Homes and the Highwood Group for land at Whitsbury Road are made up of 39 detached houses, 31 pairs of semi-detached houses as well as blocks of flats and terraced housing.

The plans also include garages, parking, and public open space, access onto Whitsbury Road and associated infrastructure, development works and landscaping.

At a town council meeting last Wednesday (MAR 1), Fordingbridge Mayor councillor Malcolm Connolly, said: “We have got a very limited amount of time to get our points of view across. It’s important we respond to it, as everyone tells you planners don’t always get it right, sometimes we can improve things, sometimes we can veto, sometimes we can do lots of things.”

Town councillors have split into three groups to look at different aspects of the application and are due to discuss the plans on March 22.

The housing will be a mix of open market and affordable housing, including starter homes, ranging from one to four bedrooms, which will be predominately two-storey.

The developer says traffic assessments show the proposals would have “no adverse effects on the existing transport network” according to the design and access statement.

“The route will branch off to serve smaller residential streets, and to access the pick-up/drop-off point for local schools. It has been designed to accommodate services, shared cycle and pedestrian route, potential future bus routes and increased traffic flows.”

Resident Colin Burt, who has submitted comments to NFDC, said: “Whilst I appreciate the need for housing I feel it is too dense for the site. Why not go for lesser numbers, larger gardens, more off road parking, etc?

“There will be an unacceptable increase in traffic on the local residential roads in close proximity to the site.”

He raised concerns over how the capacity of schools, sewers and road systems would cope without “vast improvement” and said affordable homes were needed.

Resident Robert Jackson said concerns over the Whitsbury Road access, raised by residents with the developers and calling for a direct link to the A338, did not seem to have been addressed by the developers.

He said: “We do need additional houses to meet the local demand and again I believe this site is acceptable if the access to the A338 issue can be resolved. Other issues that will need to be addressed include the addition of more places at the local schools which are already operating with class sizes of 30.”