PLANS for a housing development in Leyburn have been met with concerns from residents who say the current sewage system is not fit to cope with almost 50 new houses.

Housing developer Yorvik Homes has not yet submitted proposals to Richmondshire District Council’s planning committee but held an informal meeting to review the plans last month for locals to have their say on the dual site near Brentwood Lodge Care Home.

Matthew Gath, from Yorvik Homes, said the scheme comprises of around 48 homes with a mix of two, three and four bed dwellings including social housing.

The land areas, off Wensleydale Avenue and Dale Grove, have been allocated for development in Richmondshire’s local plan for many years but a detailed planning application is expected to be submitted in around a month.

But Leyburn resident Frank Knowles, who lives in nearby Brentwood, said he had major concerns about what he describes as already full to capacity sewage system.

He said: “I hope that when they are putting the plans together they allow for sewage because there have been difficulties with main sewage – it has flooded on a couple of occasions and some of my neighbours have had problems.

“It will be tricky to build a sewer for an extra 40 to 50 homes because there’s the railway line between the homes and the sewage works.

“The present sewer goes along side the railway bridge and it tends to run over.”

A Facebook group has also been set up in protest of the development called “Say No to Yorvik Construction Traffic”, asking “Do we want this sort of traffic in our built up, residential roads, when there is a perfectly good farm access track directly onto the proposed site?”

Mr Gath said: “At the meeting last month we had about as many people for the development as there were against it.

“The main issue seemed to be, as with many developments, increased traffic, and with site traffic and building materials being delivered.

“We have spoken to Highways and the land owner about that and they have agreed that should we get planning permission, site traffic will not go through residential areas.

“The country is crying out for new homes for local people so it is going to be very popular with a lot of people.”