CAMPAIGNERS have hit out at plans to build nearly 200 homes on the outskirts of a market town just months after a controversial scheme was approved for the other side of the road.

Guisborough Against More Building on Open Land (Gambol) lost its fight to prevent 350 homes being built on land west of the Galley Hill estate in Guisborough when the secretary of state overturned Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council planning committee’s decision to reject the scheme.

Now the planning committee members will be meeting on Thursday, January 9, to decide on an application for 188 homes near the Grove Hill plantation on Stokesley Road.

Officers have recommended the application for approval despite 168 objections from members of the public.

Among the objections from local residents were concerns about the loss of green and open space, the impact on wildlife, over development of the town and it would become part of an urban sprawl which could see the town meet up with Nunthorpe village.

Chairman Mike Heagney, of Stokesley Road, said: “There’s huge local opposition top this proposal because the site is very prominent, being on a high ground next to the national park.

“The nearby schools are full and other facilities over stretched, yet other permission has already been granted for hundreds more homes within the same vicinity.

“To make matters worse the council is withdrawing services from Guisborough and transferring them to Redcar – this application must be refused.”

The officers have drawn up 28 conditions for the scheme to be approved, including recommendations that a working hours and conditions, a full traffic management plan is implemented and that any vegetation clearances carried during the build is not done during the bird breeding season.

In October, housing developer Taylor Wimpey won an appeal to the build 350 homes opposite where the planned development will be built.

The scheme, for a mix of affordable housing, bungalows and executive homes, plus public open space and a play area, had been recommended for conditional outline approval by planning officers.

Following the decision the developer appealed to the Planning Inspectorate which overturned the original decision following a two-day inquiry held in June.

And the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government approved the planning inspector's recommendation that planning permission be granted for the scheme.

The meeting takes place at Belmont House, Rectory Lane, Guisborough, on Thursday, January 9 at 10.15am.