MORE THAN 200 villagers in Inkberrow have offically objected to proposals to build 215 new homes.
Residents are concerned about the character of the village being altered and that existing infrastructure would be unable to cope with the volume of houses.
The proposal, submitted by Gleeson Land, would see fields bordered by Stockwood Lane and Withybed Lane built on, including a public open play space, play facilities, sustainable drainage and other associated infrastructure, as well as the 215 homes.
Wychavon District Council confirmed in its application response to the proposed development that Inkberrow as a parish currently held 967 households, and the proposed application would increase this by 22 per cent.
It said: “Although having several services, any future application should demonstrate how a development of this scale is proportionate to the scale of Inkberrow and that the services within the village have sufficient capacity to cater for this development.
“The scale of the housing raises concerns regarding the capacity of current infrastructure and services.
“The anticipated increase in population is likely to place additional pressure on local amenities, many of which may not be equipped to accommodate such growth without significant investment or expansion.”
Residents are concerned Inkberrow would lose its status as a village and be unable to cope with that level of development.
Many have formally objected on the planning portal, with one resident saying the application was unfair.
“The facilities for this area are designed for the size of village it was before the recent influx of new builds that have continued to swallow up the village green areas.
“The road and surrounding roads from this development are not suitable to a housing development of this size. It’s a single track that floods regularly then to come out onto the busy main road opposite a primary school which already has safety issues for their pupils crossing the road.
“We’ve lost our post office, our village shop has parking for two cars and our sports facilities will not cope with additional cars that a size of this development will bring.
“Please look at this – it’s going to spoil a nationally important place with a lot of history and heritage.”
The applicant said the village constitutes a sustainable location for residential-led development, as it was a Category 1 settlement providing access to daily services for employment and general shopping purposes.
It added the parish has as access to ‘all daytime journey types’ including a daily bus service to designated towns including Evesham, Redditch, and Pershore.
Visit plan.wychavon.gov.uk/Planning/Display/W/25/02832/OUT to read the full application.
