DETAILED plans for a 104-home development next to a York common have been handed in – but are already attracting local opposition.

Linden Homes wants to build the £12.4 million housing scheme on 4.6 hectares of grassland at Brecks Lane, in Strensall, just over 500 yards away from Strensall Common, a Site of Special Scientific Interest and a Special Conservation Area.

City of York Council is expected to make a decision early in the New Year, and documents sent to planners by the development’s agents, Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners, said new residents could generate about £2 million a year for the local economy and the scheme would help York tackle its “significant shortage of housing”. It could also create about 80 job opportunities a year during construction.

However, opponents have begun registering their concerns, claiming the homes would lead to the area becoming overdeveloped, harm the local environment and nature and put a strain on local roads and facilities.

Strensall with Towthorpe Parish Council has said it wants Linden Homes to hold a “consultation day” in the village, with local politicians attending, claiming residents felt the scheme was moving forward with “unseemly haste”.

Brecks Lane is a potential housing site in the council’s draft Local Plan.

A planning statement said the homes would have between two and five bedrooms, with some of the houses built in terraces, and 30 per cent of them would be affordable homes.

There would also be an area of public open space, and the aim is for a single phase of work to begin early next year and be completed in summer 2017.

Nathaniel Lichfield and Partners said consultation on the proposals saw traffic, road safety and the impact of the development on local services highlighted as the main concerns.

Its statement said: “It is considered that these have been addressed and the highway design and proposed financial contribution to school places and open space will appease concerns.

“The layout of the site has been sensitively designed so that it enhances the edge of Strensall, while having no detrimental impact on the character of, or views across, the surrounding open countryside.”