ANGRY residents have slated green belt proposals which they fear might lead to another 600 homes built at Haxby.

Up to 150 people from the Haxby and Wigginton area attended a ward meeting to hear details of City of York Council's plans to take 15 hectares of land at Haxby out of York's proposed green belt.

Dozens spoke out in opposition, saying additional homes on land off Usher Lane would lead to unacceptable traffic.

Wigginton councillor Charles Hall, who chaired the meeting, said: "There was very strong opposition. Thirty-six people stood up and spoke.

"They raised everything from drainage and sewerage services to traffic, particularly on Usher Lane and on York Road, where traffic already backs up for half a mile from the York Outer Ring Road.

"It would mean, on the proposed density of housing, the expansion of the village by a sixth."

Eddie Benson, chairman of the Haxby and Wigginton Youth and Community Association, said it was firmly opposed to any more residential development in the area until more recreational space was provided for existing residents.

He said that when the villages underwent rapid expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, more than 50 acres of recreational space should have been provided for the size of population. But only 15 acres was provided.

"We are short of parkland, playing fields to play sports and children's play areas." He said 600 new homes would mean 1,200 new cars and 1,800 new residents.

Council development officer Martin Granger said that, under the proposals, 15 hectares of land north of Haxby were to be taken out of the proposed green belt, but safeguarded from development until 2011 - as if it was within the belt. A total of 188 hectares across York was set to be safeguarded in this way, he stressed.

He said it would only be decided in 2011 what should happen to such land: it might be opened up for development if there were insufficient brownfield sites available to meet housing demand. But it would not necessarily be needed and the land might simply remain safeguarded.

He stressed that the ward meeting was just part of a major public consultation exercise on the proposals, and a public inquiry would be held in 2003 before any such proposals became policy.

Updated: 11:35 Wednesday, April 24, 2002