A LIBERAL Democrat campaigner says he has launched a petition against the prospect of a massive new housing development in north York.

Tony Fisher, of Strensall, said Labour-run City of York Council planned to remove 88 hectares of land east of Strensall Road and adjacent to Willow Grove from the Green Belt and consider it for development under a revised version of the city’s draft local plan.

He claimed that, based on similar sized sites across York, this could mean around 2,000 houses would eventually be built there and he said locals he had spoken to were ‘utterly shocked’ by the scale of the plans.