NEIGHBOURS to the conditionally approved Wycombe Sports Centre coachway scheme fear the “overbearing” development will “heavily impact” on their family life.

Wycombe District Council's planning committee agreed to back multi-million pound plans to build a “gateway” coach station, park and ride, 150-bed hotel and “high quality” office facilities at Handy Cross, subject to planning conditions.

Beverley Sturges, 48, lives to the back of the Handy Cross sports centre, just yards from the athletics track which looks set to become the site of a new business park.

The mum-of-two says the scheme will “heavily impact” on her family, claiming the scheme will heavily increase traffic, bringing the area to a standstill, while the planned four-storey high offices will block out the light from her home.

She said: “In my mind WDC were always going to approve this, no matter what us residents say about it – at the end of the day, they don't really care what we think.

“The project is all well and good to them but they should try being in my shoes with the the prospect of having a four-storey office block right outside my door.

"This is our house and our livelihood we are talking about."

WDC leader Lesley Clarke yesterday backed the plans, calling the project a “huge benefit to High Wycombe” (see link to story on the plans).

Meanwhile, Hazlemere residents fighting WDC's plan to move the sports centre track to Sir William Ramsay School say they are not trying to “undermine” the coachway scheme.

The track has to be relocated to enable the Handy Cross development to go ahead. Sport England has also said the application could be "called in" to the Secretary of State if another site is not found.

Councillors Simon Bazley and Richard Pushman asked for reserved item 15 in the coachway plans to be re-written because of the “dangerous” way it was written.

Brian Mapletoft, chairman of the Hazlemere Residents Association 2009, said the track relocation was an “unfortunate consequence”of the project but vowed to fight on.

Mr Mapletoft said: “We are satisfied the consideration of Handy Cross should be separated from that of the destination of the athletics track and the Sir William Ramsay application.

“Our efforts are now devoted to exploring the practicalities for a viable alternative to SWR, which we believe is just too congested for such an ambitious proposal.

“This should enable the council to move ahead without penalising the vast majority of the good people of Hazlemere, who have been a model of restraint throughout.”

The Hazlemere track plan has been engulfed by controversy after a leaked email from Cllr Hugh McCarthy warned councillors to “remember the officer's warning, if it (track) fails, the coachway project is dead, so we need to be careful.”

He has been advised by council solicitors to “play no part” in the decision on the relocation of the running track, which is expected to be decided at next month's planning meeting.