The battle to save a Chester village has been lost, say residents who have seen their community swamped with 200 new homes in just four years.

Residents in Kelsall have spent the last three years campaigning against various developers who want to build new homes on their doorstep.

But this week, Elan’s plans for 14 new homes were given the green light by councillors at a meeting of Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning committee, which has left the community devastated.

Members of the Kelsall Residents Action Group, set up to show the community’s unanimous opposition to the proposals, had given up hours of their time to work towards developing a neighbourhood plan and come up with proactive and sustainable ways they can develop their village.

Group chairman Chris Spray told the Chronicle: “We have lost our fight to save Kelsall and have another 50 houses in another application.

“This is exactly what we predicted would happen and it is being repeated throughout the county.”

More than 100 homes have already been approved in the village, which will taking the total to 200 homes in just four years.

The approval of the latest plans is a double blow for residents as the scheme, which was previously headed by Rowland Homes, was unanimously rejected in the past, on the basis of being ‘too cramped’.

But Elan Homes, who took over from Rowland, submitted their own application after altering it slightly.

Mr Spray said: “We are building thousands of executive houses but not building any schools, surgeries, homes for older people or other infrastructure.

“It’s such a mess. The planners and the developer have made many concessions in order to mitigate the numerous issues that the planning inspectorate, parish council and residents highlighted.

“These include the removal of one house, the provision of four affordable homes and one off three bedroom home, better landscaping and a badger run.

“The councillors, albeit not unanimously, found Elan had done enough to allay their concerns despite strong representation from Cllr John Leather, Anne Britton for the parish council and Jon Moorhouse for the residents.”

He added: “We’d like to thank the entire community for their strong support to date and ask them to get behind the neighbourhood development plan. 

“This is the only mechanism we have available to have some influence in the way our village develops.

“We remain committed to the sustainable development of our village but feel extremely disappointed that government policy removed all power to influence this.

“We will now focus on ensuring that the village has a positive and productive relationship with Elan Homes as they become active members of our community.”