RESIDENTS in a Herefordshire village say they feel ignored by planners because of the amount of homes which could be built in the village.

Outline planning permission has been given by Herefordshire Council for up to 60 houses on land off Pixiefields in Cradley.

The next stage will see details of the plans being submitted to the council for approval.

Resident Nic Calvert said as well as these 60 homes, which are away from the heart of the village, there are around 78 others up for proposal.

He said: "We feel the village council and residents are being ignored by both local government and planning simply to allow the Government's housing plan to continue unchecked."

Mr Calvert said the amount of houses goes well beyond the projected need of 38 by 2018.

And he said the proposed 60 homes are being planned for a site where there are problems with surface water and access.

He said: "We feel as a community that the number of houses just on this one site goes above and beyond what is reasonable for the space."

Mr Calvert said there is also insufficient infrastructure for the new homes and a petition against the development continues to grow above 300.

He said: "The outline planning has been put through even though many residents wrote petition letters to the planning committee; basically they were dismissed as the simple ravings of disgruntled neighbours of the site without any consultation."

The application was approved at a planning committee last September as none of the objections carried such significance as to outweigh the presumption in favour of sustainable development.