HARVINGTON residents are in dispute with a housing association over plans to develop affordable housing outside the parish boundary.

Villagers claim Rooftop Housing Group's proposal for six two-bedroom houses and four one-bedroom apartments near Leys Road is unnecessary but the association claims the need for the £1m development has been identified. Wychavon District councillors deferred the application for three weeks at a planning meeting last Thursday in order to receive a flood risk assessment.

Clive Allen, chairman of Harvington Parish Council said: "The housing association has quoted various figures but they do not relate specifically to Harvington.

"The need for 303 affordable houses within the Wychavon district is not a case for building houses outside the parish boundary."

Rooftop has indicated that funding to cover half the cost of the development will be lost if planning permission and land purchase is not finalised before Christmas.

But Mr Allen claims Newing Court, another Harvington housing association development built around three years ago, was filled with families outside the area.

Mr Allen said: "At that time the housing association said there was a need for affordable housing in Harvington, but once they were built they could not fill them with Harvington people. Families came in from outside the area to fill those houses and we do not see any change since that time.

"The suspicion in the village is that it (the application) will be pushed through. The housing association should have consulted with people and found a need before they applied for funding - they put the cart before the horse."

Rooftop spokesman Rebecca Bailey said: "We do not accept Mr Allen's statement that the development in Leys Road could not be filled with people that have a local connection. Our records show that homes we provided in Newing Court were tenanted by residents from Harvington, or with strong links to the village.

"Wychavon District Council has undertaken a housing needs survey and is confident that there is a need for affordable housing for local people in Harvington."