THE residents of a Bromsgrove village are preparing to fight a re-development scheme, which they claim will create a mini estate in the centre of their rural community.

Severn Trent Water has submitted a planing application to Bromsgrove District Council for outline consent to build nine homes on the site of its depot and pumping station opposite a garden centre in Burcot.

The village hall committee, which acts for residents, met to consider the application on June 13 and unanimously decided to lodge a strongly worded objection to the proposal.

The committee's objections include increased traffic hazards, over intensive development and the destruction of the village environment.

They fear it may also and set a precedent for further "creeping" housing development.

Mike Baldrey, chairman of the village hall committee, in a printed handout distributed in the locality, says villagers may want to submit their own written comments on the plan to the head of planning services at Bromsgrove District Council without delay, citing Ref B/2002/0653JE.

The deadline for comment is Wednesday, June 26.

Severn Trent was asked for a comment, but had not responded as we went to press.