ANGRY residents claim their quiet cul-de-sac will be hit by traffic chaos if plans for a new village on York's outskirts win the go-ahead.

Under the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust's proposals for New Osbaldwick, vehicles will use Temple Avenue in Tang Hall to get to and from 125 homes.

The avenue has long been a cul-de-sac that ends in fields which are set to be developed under the proposals for a 540-home model village near Osbaldwick.

Householders say they will for the first time suffer from noise, congestion and traffic dangers, and they also fear increasing crime and falling property values.

But the Trust has sought to allay fears, claiming that steps will be taken to mitigate traffic problems and that property values will rise in the long run.

The residents' comments come after the Trust submitted an outline planning application to City of York Council. The authority is out to public consultation and councillors are set to consider the proposal in December.

One Temple Avenue resident, Eileen Smith, said she was shocked and angry when she heard what was being proposed. "It has frightened us to death, to be honest, especially those ones with children.

"We have lived here 40 years and brought up five children, because it is nice and quiet. If they are going to disrupt our lives, it's wrong."

Mike Olney said: "It's going to change from being a nice quiet cul-de-sac into a thoroughfare. They ought to compensate us."

Pauline McQuade said: "I think it's going to be chaos. And house prices are going to go down." Rachel Mottershead said children would no longer be able to play out.

Ian Atkinson, project manager for the development, said only traffic from one section of the village would be able to go down Temple Avenue, so there was no danger of rat-running.

A proposed one-way system on part of the avenue would mean better parking for residents, while allowing traffic to pass through at slow speeds.

He said it was not true, as had been suggested in a leaflet circulated in the area, that heavy construction traffic such as JCBs would use Temple Avenue.

He also warned against making the assumption that the new village would lead to an increase in crime.

He said discussions had been held with valuation experts and it was believed that, while property values might be affected adversely in the short-term during construction work, in the long-term they could increase because the quality of the new village would be so high.

Updated: 08:51 Thursday, September 18, 2003