A DEVELOPER is approaching D-Day with its bid to build more than 100 homes on the edge of Rowlands Castle.

Plans to build a 106-home estate plot next to St John’s Rowlands Castle Primary School have been lodged by Bellway Homes.

The applicants are confident of getting approval from East Hampshire District Council (EHDC) as outline permission was granted in 2015.

But villagers with concerns about the impact of the Oaklands II development aren’t giving up the fight as several objections have already been made.

The 5.5 hectare development will include 42 affordable homes with access coming from a new junction off Whichers Gate Road.

The “secluded” estate will boast “character” and “courtyard” areas and a mix of one to four-bedroom homes along with 226 parking spaces.

Traffic calming has also been proposed with the application likely to appear before an EHDC planning committee in May or June.

Permission is likely to be recommended as the outline application that EHDC approved contained an unusually high level of detail.

But the resulting increase in traffic remains a big concern for many villagers who lodged objections with EHDC late last week.

“Whichers Gate Road and the double roundabout will be affected by the increase in traffic,” states one of the objections.

“This area of the village has already had two housing estates built on it in the last few years. Added traffic and associated pollution will be a danger to children attending the primary school.”

“The road infrastructure simply cannot cope with the volume of traffic that will increase if this development and the Keyline development go ahead,” wrote another objector to EHDC.

“Whichers Gate Road already has heavy traffic and the roundabout system by the Harvester is like playing Russian roulette with speeding traffic. I cannot see how ‘traffic calming measures’ will make the situation any better.”

Other objectors have also raised concerns about the possible impact of the development on drainage and class sizes at the adjacent school.

For more information about the development, type 30016 after following the ‘search planning applications’ link at www.easthants.gov.uk/planning