MORE than 120 residents from a village near York gathered to have their say on plans to build new homes in the area.

Residents of Copmanthorpe packed into the Methodist Church Hall to put their points on City of York Council’s Local Plan, which includes plans for more than 500 new homes around the village, potential windfarms, and a travellers site in nearby Knapton.

Councillor Chris Steward, who attended along with Coun Paul Healey, both Rural West York ward councillors, told the crowd the areas designated as potential windfarm sites had been selected by a computer programme, which caused laughter and a call from one audience member for the systems to be repaired, and voiced his concerns on the proposals.

He said: “All of the best greenbelt land is cheapest to build on and easiest to build on, and will be the first to go, while the brownfield sites will be second choice and will just get forgotten about.

“The roads at Manor Heath cannot realistically be made good enough to cope with that extra amount of cars.”

The audience were encouraged to make sure they filed valid objections to the plans if they felt strongly about it, either online or through petitions.

Coun Steward said: “It will go to the planning inspector and the secretary of state, who will have to look at it and approve or decline it. They will be no pushover.

“They are going to be able to see all of the opposition that has been levelled against the development, and those are the valid reasons that will resonate with them. It’s them we have to convince. It’s about convincing the council if they don’t get it right in the first place, it will be thrown out.”

Eric Tomlinson, of Back Lane, said he thought York council’s plans were “barking mad”.

He said: “With the windfarms, we live in the Vale of York. Since when do you put windfarms in a vale? You put them on a hill! We overlook an old farm and they have even got planning for that. It’s ridiculous. I think they should build some housing, but not to that level - 100 or 200 would be fine, but the traffic would be a nightmare every day.”