PLANS for a controversial development on Hampshire countryside will come before councillors for the second time in less than a year.

A developer wants to build 200 homes in fields off Bubb Lane on what residents say is the last gap separating Hedge End from West End. It is the very same site where the council turned down the same developer’s plans for 328 homes – a decision it is currently appealing against.

Gladman Developments wants to build on five hectares of agricultural land of an 18-hectare site off Bubb Lane, West End, close to Wessex Vale Crematorium, with a further two hectares for amenities or green space, including a play area.

The site, to the north of Hedge End, is in an area designed to prevent borough communities merging with Southampton.

It was not allocated for development in the council’s abandoned Local Plan, a blueprint for future development, that was halted at examination stage by an inspector in 2014. A new Local Plan up to 2036 is currently being drawn up.

Residents have raised concerns about traffic, road safety on Bubb Lane, air pollution, pressure on schools, the impact on wildlife and that it could join the communities together.

Hedge End Town Council and West End Parish Council are both objecting, though there is no objection from the highways authorities.

Council planning bosses say the impact on the gap would be “unacceptable” and a council officer’s report is recommending councillors refuse it.

As reported, Gladman Developments’ plans for 328 homes on the same site, which included a doctor’s surgery, were refused in March last year, despite reducing the number of homes by seven.

An appeal is set to come before a public inquiry in April.

Cllr Anne Mortimer, chair of West End Parish Council, said there were numerous developments proposed or approved in the area that would in effect surround West End, with traffic a real concern.

“We have already voiced concerns over the infrastructure within West End not being sufficient to take all these developments that are planned,” she said.

Hedge End Town councillor Cynthia Garton, pictured, chair of its highways and planning committee, said they were concerned about building in the gap which was the “last bit of land between the two communities” and exacerbating flooding issues on Tollbar Way.

She said they were also concerned about the development’s isolation, with two major roads either side that people would have to either cross or use their cars to travel.

She also raised safety fears as to get to the suggested school, children would have to cross the 40mph-50mph Tollbar Way.