TARVIN residents packed a community centre to protest against a housing development they fear would prove disastrous for the village.

Redrow Homes has submitted a planning application to build 42 homes off Broomheath Lane and more than 50 residents turned up at Monday's parish council meeting to object.

The parish council has received 11 objection letters and numerous informal complaints and wrote a formal objection to the city council.

One of the main concerns is the proposal for three-storey blocks within the development. Councillors and residents say the buildings would not be in keeping with the village and their height would overshadow neighbouring properties on Broomheath Lane, reducing privacy and light.

Dr Stephen Jones, who lives with his family on Broomheath Lane, is one of the residents who has written his complaints to both city and parish councils.

In his letter he says a planned three-storey building on Broomheath Lane, named 'The Mill', will directly overlook his and neighbouring properties.

'There is an issue of privacy sighting here as the windows on the north elevation of the new building will look directly into our front bedrooms and living rooms,' he said.

'I am extremely concerned about this as these are my children's bedrooms.'

Another resident of Broomheath Lane, Peter Roberts, says the development will be a blot on the landscape and an eyesore.

'The latest designs by Redrow are no longer for reasonablesized properties, as they were on the original plans, but now for much smaller dolls' house-type properties with a Colditz building on the end,' he wrote to the parish council.

'How on earth do they justify a three-floor apartment building in the middle of a rural setting?'

Parish councillors addressed this issue in a letter sent to the city council this week:

'Three storeys are not appropriate in this setting. Neither of the three-storey blocks resembles the architecture of any of the three-storey buildings in the village and they do not harmonise with the immediate surroundings.

'The three-storey apartment blocks proposed to face Broomheath Lane will result in an unacceptable loss of privacy to residents of Broomheath Lane.'

Another worry is the prospect of another 42 homes connected to the creaking sewage system, which in heavy rain spews raw sewage on to the roads.

'At times of peak load we currently experience foul water overf low from the drain outside our property,' said Chris Stephens, of Tarporley Road, who also sent a letter of complaint to the parish council.

'There is also foul water over-flow from the manhole at the junction of Hockenhull Avenue and Tarporley Road.

'We have video evidence to support this statement.

'This is a situation we have previously raised with the city council - however, they have failed to take any action to date.'

In its letter to the city council, the parish council says the existing sewerage system could not cope with the addition of the development and that 'development should not be allowed to proceed without significant improvements being made to the existing systems'.

Other concerns raised by residents and the parish council included parking on the site and the additional traff ic which the development would cause.

Residents were also concerned about space at the village school, which is nearing capacity, and the lack of open space in the current plans, which is required by the local plan.

There are also wider environ-mental concerns about the plan and the impact that development would have on the village while building work is carried out.

'If planning permission were to be given to this application, we consider that it would be a disaster for Tarvin,' wrote Brenda and Brian White, of Crossfields, in a letter to the city council.

'I sincerely hope that this planning application will be rejected because it is not in the best interests of the existing residents of Tarvin or the cultural and environmental heritage of the village.'