Angry residents are planning to fight controversial new plans which have been put forward to build 900 new homes on Green Belt land in south Bucks.

Almost 60 hectares could be removed from land near Brushwood Junior School in Chesham, which residents fear will cause “significant damage” to the town and harm the appearance of the “visually sensitive” area.

The radical proposals could also see the potential expansion of the school, the development of a local centre and possibly accommodation for travellers and gypsies on the land, which sees Chesham to the south, Nashleigh Hill to the west, Lycrome Road to the north and Lye Green Road to the east.

Chiltern and South Bucks District councils, who are preparing a joint Local Plan for the two districts, have stressed that “nothing is set in stone” and they are “actively seeking people’s views” through a consultation which ends on December 12.

A spokesman from the Lye Green Association campaign group said there will be a “loss of identity” for the hamlet, which they fear will “simply become absorbed” within Chesham, and added residents were angry at not being notified of the plans or consultation process.

The spokesman said: “Many only heard about the proposals by chance from a friend or neighbour and they want more public notification of the plans.”

The group also wants the councils to look at brownfield sites before considering Green Belt land for development.

Resident Phillip Plato said adding the “disproportionate” number of homes will place a “greater strain” on infrastructure and facilities such as schools, GP surgeries, drains, sewers and water treatment, which “often struggle to cope already.”

He said: “Residents are questioning not just why sacrifice this attractive Green Belt site but also why expand Chesham on such a scale at all, especially when the town has such problematic topography and its infrastructure is already under such strain.”

A Chiltern District Council spokesman said despite taking into account the development of all brownfield sites across Chiltern and South Bucks, the councils are unable to meet housing needs and so need to consider releasing Green Belt land.

The spokesman said: “From more than 450 green belt sites which were examined, just 15 have been included in the Preferred Options consultation.

“Even if all 15 sites identified were to be released, this would reduce green belt in the two districts by just 1.4 per cent.

“We have been extremely proactive in seeking the public’s views. To date more than 1,300 people have attended one of our 13 public exhibitions, with three still to come.

“So far the Chesham public exhibition held on 5 November logged the highest attendance with 266 people coming along, and we’ve had the biggest response from Chesham in the consultation thus far.

“We feel we are doing everything possible to tell people about the consultation and welcome the opportunity to once more encourage people to get informed and respond to this very important consultation.”

For more information, go to http://www.chiltern.gov.uk/planning/localplan2014-2036.

Full statement from Chiltern District Council: 

“The purpose of the current Green Belt Preferred Options consultation is to explore options for meeting development needs which cannot be met within built areas, or on previously developed land or in areas outside Chiltern and South Bucks.

“We are banking on all the brownfield sites across Chiltern and South Bucks, and even accounting for developing these, we still cannot meet housing needs. Therefore, we must consider releasing some of our green belt land, which makes up 87 per cent of land in our two districts.  

“From more than 450 green belt sites which were examined, just 15 have been included in the Preferred Options consultation. Even if all 15 sites identified were to be released, this would reduce green belt in the two districts by just 1.4 per cent.

“We must stress, nothing is set in stone, and we are actively seeking people’s views through the consultation process and encourage them to respond.

“Our work continues around infrastructure. We’re looking at transport modelling and are also in talks with service and infrastructure providers including, for example, the county about schools provision and with the clinical commissioning group regarding healthcare facilities.

“We have been extremely proactive in seeking the public’s views. To date more than 1300 people have attended one of our 13 public exhibitions, with three still to come.

“So far, the Chesham public exhibition held on 5 November logged the highest attendance with 266 people coming along, and we’ve had the biggest response from Chesham in the consultation thus far.

“In addition we held two stakeholder meetings, which 140 town and parish councillors and residents’ groups representatives attended, where they were encouraged to spread the word in their local communities and we wrote to over 3,200 people/groups registered on our consultation database.

“The consultation has been covered in the local press, there are static exhibitions in both the Chiltern and South Bucks councils’ offices, we have information in local libraries and we are regularly putting messages out on social media.

“We feel we are doing everything possible to tell people about the consultation and welcome the opportunity to once more encourage people to get informed and respond to this very important consultation.”