CAMPAIGNERS have reacted angrily to a plan to site 98 new houses on land they strove in vain to protect from a developers last year.

The Elworth Hall Farm Action Group last their fight to protect open fields in Sandbach from 25 new houses in 2011.

Now, a further application to build nearly a hundred homes on Greenfield land north of the town has provoked outrage from the group, who want the countryside protected from development.

The Rowland Homes Ltd application plans to build a mixture of houses and maisonettes on the 14 hectare site.

Jason Keeble, spokesman for the Elworth Hall Farm Action Group , said: “We believe that this new application is wholly inappropriate and can only cause a negative impact on our village and town in its entirety.

“We feel that the developer has cherry picked and interpreted for their sole benefit from the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), clutching at straws that this development could possibly fulfil any element of true sustainability for the total area.”

In a statement supporting the application, Rowland Homes argue they believe the development ‘has been carefully formulated to be sympathetic to the existing buildings and the site’s surroundings’.

The action group invite people to participate in a public meeting about the planning application at St Peter’s Church Hall, School Lane, Elworth, at 7pm tomorrow night, Wednesday, August 8.

The plan can be viewed and responded to at planning.cheshireeast.gov.uk under a search for application 12/2426C.