HUNDREDS of residents from across eastern York have objected to controversial plans for a new village.

Householders have told City of York Council they fear New Osbaldwick will cause an unacceptable rise in traffic on local roads, and also lead to extra crime and the loss of valued countryside.

The authority has a box file full of letters received in response to Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust's outline planning application for a 540-home development.

Many residents from Osbaldwick, Meadlands, Fifth Avenue and Temple Avenue - which would all be used to provide access into the site - have written in to object, and the Evening Press has looked through the file to discover the main issues worrying them.

One letter, signed by 22 residents from the Fifth Avenue area, wrote to express concerns about plans for buses to run down their street every ten minutes.

They said traffic at Fifth Avenue's junction with Tang Hall Lane was already a nightmare. "Traffic can barely move twice a day as it is," they said. "The noise, smell and pollution from buses every ten minutes would be horrendous." They also had worries about vibrations causing cracking in properties.

A letter from a mother and her children in Temple Avenue said it was a quiet peaceful road where children could play out, but this would be spoilt by the development.

"Don't pretend that you won't spoil it, because you will. It's all pound-signs to you, but to us it's our lives."

Another woman from Temple Avenue wrote to say: "I have three young children and think the increase in traffic levels on the road outside my home will be unsafe for them."

Another objector said the idea of a new model village had worked in a different age when there was a community spirit, but would not work in the 21st century.

A letter signed by scores of residents from the Meadlands area said: "To allow traffic to this site through Meadlands will result in an unacceptable increase in noise, pollution and road safety risks to existing residents."

But a woman from Osbaldwick went against the trend and wrote to say there was an enormous shortage of property in York, and she felt compromises had to be made. The application is set to be considered by the council's planning committee early next year.

The Trust has vigorously defended the proposals in a leaflet recently sent out to thousands of homes.

It argued that the new homes were badly needed and that the scheme would improve the environment.

Updated: 08:55 Tuesday, December 09, 2003