DOZENS of local residents have objected to plans for new homes on a wooded hillside in York.

Yorkshire Housing Association has said previously that its scheme for 43 homes at Severus Hill, off Bouthwaite Drive, Acomb, will help tackle the city’s housing crisis and provide families with badly-needed homes.

It said the new homes would be available for sub market or social rent and as shared ownership properties to help people get on the housing ladder.

But people living locally have raised a series of concerns about the planning application with City of York Council.

Louise Phillips, who lives on Howe Hill Road, said that while she agreed York needed more affordable housing and space was at a premium, building on small green spaces such as this wasn’t the answer.

“These little patches of wilderness have an impact that should not be ignored,” she said.

“They can so often be a catalyst to wellbeing that is not recognised until it is too late and they have been destroyed.

“Instead, residents of the tightly-packed houses and flats that surround the land are subjected to excessive noise and disruption whilst building works takes place.”

Glen Gears, of Winchester Grove, said he believed the development was ‘entirely inappropriate’ for the site.

He also felt it would have a very negative impact on the daily lives of the local community and contravene his human rights by affecting his family and private life.

“Due to its height and domination of the skyline of York, local residents living in the streets surrounding the site will have their lives forever blighted,” he claimed.

Paul Thompson, of Howe Hill Close, raised concerns that the buildings would increase the likelihood of flooding.

“The drains are unable to cope with surface water, causing water to flood into garages,” he said.

Rachel Wilkinson, also of Howe Hill Close, had fears about the thousands of extra car journeys she believed the development would generate at a local junction.

She said her children and others played outside, rode bikes in the street and walked to school past the junction, and she suggested there would be a serious accident at it.