RESIDENTS in a leafy Hampshire suburb are losing their privacy to new housing schemes without the chance to object, city planners were warned.

“Piecemeal” development is changing the character of Chilbolton Avenue, Winchester City Council heard as it approved six new homes on the road.

Ward councillor Anne Weir told the planning committee on Thursday that families were worried by an “increasingly intrusive and overbearing” series of projects which is set to replace four homes with 22.

The new townhouses, of three and four bedrooms, will be developer Alfred Homes' third project in the area since 2013. The firm recently completed 12 homes nearby and has started work on another four next door.

Warning of a "cumulative impact", Cllr Weir said: “The piecemeal submission of planning applications has denied residents a fair opportunity to challenge the overall impact of what's happening on Chilbolton Avenue.

“I think residents have explained the increasingly intrusive and overbearing nature of these developments on their properties.”

Fraser Hymas, of Stockers Avenue, told planners that the work had allowed people on his street to peer into living rooms and even showers.

“We are concerned that the development of 49 Chilbolton Avenue has been cited as a precedent,” he said.

“This was approved without consultation of residents of Stockers Avenue, where the massing effect is greatest.

“It's very, very open and there is total lack of privacy that we're all experiencing along Stockers Avenue. It's not just us, it's everyone.”

Accelerated development in the area, with detached houses being replaced by several smaller units, has long generated controversy.

Chris Rees, the scheme's planning agent, said it was “consistent with what's gone before”, adding that the new site was not available when a previous application had been filed.