NEIGHBOURS say their concerns have not been addressed after “daft” plans for 160 new homes in Abingdon were submitted.

Sheffield-based Hallam Land Management has now lodged an application to build the one to five bedroom houses on a field off Drayton Road which residents say has flooded in the past.

Neighbours say there are already frequent traffic problems in Drayton Road, leading to rush hour queues stretching from the White Horse pub roundabout in all directions.

In September Hallam held a public exhibition of its initial plan for 170 houses – ten more than in the planning application, which was submitted at the end of last month.

Town councillor Aidan Melville wrote to the firm to raise his concerns after the consultation.

He said: “I would like to see the application refused.

“None of my concerns were addressed, and not a lot has changed.

“The same issues are going to come into play, building on land that floods, and creating more traffic.

“I want south Abingdon to have better infrastructure anyway, it already needs work.”

Mr Melville called the reduction in the number of houses a “token measure”.

The application will be discussed by the town council, which will give its feedback to the decision making Vale planning committee.

The committee will also ask the county council for its advice on the traffic issues raised by the application.

Retired teacher Anne Dodd and her husband Peter live in Virginia Way in Abingdon, which directly overlooks the field in question.

She said: “It is just daft.

“There have been applications put in before and they have always been firmly refused because of the traffic problems in Drayton Road.

“I know that people have gone into estate agents looking for a house here and been told ‘don’t go to south Abingdon, the traffic is awful’.

“It is nonsense.”

Vale councillor for Abingdon Marilyn Badcock said: “The road is one of my biggest worries, because of the congestion, not just on Drayton but also on Marcham Road.

“I feel it will exacerbate the situation in the south of the town.”

The developers said that the estate would increase traffic by at least 100 cars at peak times in Drayton Road. The application states: “A development of this scale is anticipated to generate in the order of 113 vehicle trips in the AM peak and 100 vehicle trips in the PM peak.”

Referring to the consultation, Hallam Land spokesman Andy Birch said: “General feedback related to traffic impact and the principle of development.

“The clear majority of written feedback regarding design elements expressed agreement with the emerging design principles which have been carried forward into the submitted scheme. As a result of the feedback and amended design, the scheme has been reduced from 170 dwellings.”

Mr Birch added that the development would help meet the demand for affordable housing in Abingdon.

The development will contain up to 40 per cent affordable housing.