Residents of Walton on the Hill have objected to plans for 40 new homes which they say would dramatically alter the character of the village.

Land promoter Touch Developments has submitted a planning application for the development on farmland at Old Croft Road.

Submitted to Stafford Borough Council in December, the application has already attracted over 60 comments from neighbours.

Various concerns have been raised including the potential loss of residential amenity, criticism the designs are not in keeping with the local area, the loss of green space, further parking problems and a possible impact on privacy.

One objector wrote: "A 40-dwelling development in a small village parish represents a scale entirely disproportionate to local character, infrastructure, and identified need. 

"Request evidence of a Parish Housing Needs Assessment or local viability study demonstrating demand for 40 dwellings. 

"In the absence of such evidence, the development appears speculative and driven by developer profit rather than genuine local housing need. 

"This scale of growth will materially alter the village's identity and place unacceptable pressure on finite local resources."

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Berkswich Parish Council has also objected to the application which is the third such plan for the area. Parish councillors have also objected to the previous two schemes.

"Development here will appear an arbitrary and harmful aggregation to the existing settlement of Walton on the Hill," the objections said. 

"The proposed geometric layout appears as an artificial imposition on the site and in the landscape rather than a natural growth of the existing settlement at Walton on the Hill. 

"It does not, contrary to the claims in the Design and Access Statement, reflect any element of the established character or design of local development in Walton on the Hill. 

"The house designs, density of dwellings, rigid cul de sac highway layout with dual two metre footways, hammerhead turns, residential properties immediately at the back of pavement and very minimal landscaping is unimaginative, urban in appearance and lacking in any sense of place."

In its application Touch Developments states 10 of the houses will be designated 'affordable homes'.

Plans also include public open space as well as what the developer describes as "significant" mitigation.

It also says the proposals have been created in line with its 'development vision' which calls for a "site which supports local housing provision, promotes sustainable travel modes of travel to local amenities, education facilities and employment opportunities, which provides a good level of permeability so as to provide direct accessibility to services and amenities by sustainable travel modes. 

"The vision for the development is to reduce car ownership, limit car use, and increase the use of sustainable travel modes.

"The vision for the site will be monitored and validated through travel surveys undertaken as part of the travel plan."

Click here to see the full planning application.