Twenty residents of Albert Road have voiced their objections to a major housing development in the street.

The residents attended last Thursday's Ledbury Town Council planning meeting at the Market House when councillors also criticised the move.

The authority will ask Herefordshire Council to refuse planning consent for 12 new homes, an access road, garages and parking spaces on land currently occupied by numbers 26 and 28.

However, developers Rural Homes have already submitted an amended plan, which town councillors will now have to consider instead.

The new plan shows wider access from the access road onto Albert Road itself, and splayed access into the parking areas in front of the rear houses.

But town councillors and Albert Road residents are vowing to continue to oppose the development, which is for two, three, and four-bedroomed homes in a Victorian style.

Albert Road resident Linda Issacs said: "We are devastated because we live next door to the site and to our left there will be 24 parking spaces. It will be absolutely horrendous."

Fellow resident Marg-aret Phillips said: "We are not happy about it. An increase in traffic could cause extra safety hazards for young families and elderly residents."

Emma Winters, also of Albert Road, said: "We feel that 12 new houses in a narrow street isn't a very good idea, in a road that is old and narrow with no pavements.

"It will put an awful lot more traffic on the road, and parking is a problem as it is. I dread to think what the congestion will be like when they start to build."

Deputy mayor Keith Francis, another Albert Road resident, said: "The safety of children is a particular concern. A number of families walk their children to school each day. Increased traffic movements would be counter to the 'Safer Routes to Schools' policy."

Sarah Gauntlett, of Active Permissions, the agent for Rural Homes, said the amended plan came about following close consultations with Herefordshire Council's highways department.

She added: "All new car parking will be on the site, not on the road. There will be more than enough parking spaces for all the houses, and the development should not cause any more parking problems in Albert Road."