CONCERNED residents were learning tonight whether 85 new homes will be built on a field they have fought to save twice before.

Today, Wychavon District Council Planning Committee is debating a plan proposing 85 flats, bungalows and two-storey houses be built on an arable field - Hurst Meadows - beside Wyre Road, just north of Pershore.

It could mean the town's population would swell by 300 and start an amalgamation with the nearby village, Wyre Piddle.

There was pressure on the committee to reject the application, submitted by Lansdowne Rodway Estates Ltd .

The council has received 35 objection letters, including two on behalf of the Mill Lane Residents' Association and the Ruralists Against Green Erosion.

Objections include the loss of countryside, the spread of unsightly urban sprawl, more traffic along Wyre Road, and the loss of wildlife habitat.

But Pershore Civic Society has not objected because it supplies desperately-needed affordable housing, and it appears to be a well designed plan.

In August last year, an application to build 100 houses with car parking and access facilities was withdrawn, and a similar plan was put submitted in 1989.

Residents say they will fight the development as they have done in the past.

"We've stopped any development so far and plan to do the same again," said Mill Lane Close resident, Paula Lyons.

Residents have the backing of the planning officer in charge who advises the committee to reject it.

Its encroachment onto green land outside town boundaries is not justified, and would detrimentally link Pershore with Wyre Piddle, he said in a report.

In conclusion, the officer added the plan was not detailed enough for the Highways Partnership Unit to adequately examine road safety, and consequently it could not meet certain safety levels.