Controversial plans for up to 150 homes on former reserve site Slate Meadow are set to be decided by councillors next week – but seven community organisations have rallied together to urge them to reject the proposals.

In an open letter to Karen Satterford, the chief executive of Wycombe District Council (WDC), both Wooburn and Bourne End residents associations, Keep Bourne End Green, Chalklands residents association, Hawks Hill and Widmoor residents group, the Slate Meadow liaison group and Future of our Village – Bourne End have urged her to “show your leadership” and call for the application to be refused by the planning committee.

The community groups say the plans are too vague in their current form because they do not discuss how the homes will look, the effect on infrastructure and ecology and other vital matters – and want the developers, Avant Homes and Croudace Homes, to resubmit their proposals with full details once the new Local Plan has been adopted.

The plans, in their current form, will go before the WDC planning committee on Wednesday, August 22 – and planning officers have already advised that the proposals be given the green light as long as developers agree to provide affordable housing, nursery and primary education, improve public transport and walking and cycling routes and put a travel plan in place.

They will also have to make a contribution for maintenance of the village green.

In their letter, the community groups said they fear the planning committee will be “unjustly pressured” to follow the officers’ recommendations for the “very sensitive site and flood meadow”.

They have also called for WDC to fully reinstate the Slate Meadow liaison group, which was effectively disbanded following their last meeting in July.

Jim Penfold, chairman of the Bourne End residents association, said the whole situation was “undemocratic”.

He said: “An outline planning application means that there is no detail at all. We don’t know any aspects about the design, or infrastructure, ecology, or anything. We have a right to know what’s going to be going there.

“It is very undemocratic in my opinion. I would like to hope that the planning committee will refuse this application, but they may not.”

The letter adds how the site is at risk of flooding and a sequential test, which aims to steer new development to areas with the lowest probability of flooding, has not been submitted with the application for homes at Slate Meadow.

It says: “The national guidance considers where these tests are not met, national policy is clear that new development should not be allowed, and this should weigh heavily against the planning application.”

It added: “A decision to approve this outline application, made with undue haste, would ignore supplementary planning guidance, fail to address key issues in the development brief and ignore the need for a sequential test and therefore such a decision would appear to be outside any possible definition of a reasonable decision of a planning committee.”