HUNDREDS of residents joined forces to give a red card to plans for hundreds of homes on former green belt land in Poole.

Three years to the day that the now abolished Borough of Poole Council voted to remove Cruxton Farm and nearby fields from the green belt, protestors in Merley delivered a strong message to planners over the proposals for 600 homes and a care home on the farm land.

The large crowd channelled the spirit of footballer supporters with a chant in unison of "off, off, off" as they held red cards in the air.

The event was organised by action group Save Land North of Merley in an attempt to show that the strength of feeling remains strong in opposition to the plans which have been tabled by developer Richborough.

Speaking about Saturday’s ‘red card’ event, Frank Ahern, chairman of Save Land North of Merley, said: "People have not given up on this and still feel passionately that, whilst new housing is essential, this is not the place for it, especially with plenty of brownfield space available in the BCP area.

"The proposed development will inevitably have a detrimental effect on the abutting conservation areas of Oakley Lane and Canford Magna, the latter with four Grade I listed buildings and a host of Grade II listed buildings.

"There are traffic issues, with access to the site being only onto a lane with bottlenecks at each end, suggesting that the infrastructure will not be able to accommodate the extra traffic. Additionally, there are drainage issues. The site slopes down to the River Stour, and risks contributing to future flooding events as climate change increases winter rainfall.

"We hope that our hundreds of red cards will wake up BCP councillors to the unsuitability of this development."

A 'holding hands' event was held at the site by the same group in November 2019, while in July 2019 it organised a packed out meeting at Merley Social Centre.

Ward councillor Richard Burton, who was present at the recent protest, said: ‘I attended the hand-holding protest three years ago and it is absolutely clear that the views of residents of Merley haven’t changed since then.

"Although welcoming people moving into the area, they feel that this number of houses, with limited improvement in infrastructure and facilities, will overwhelm our community and have a detrimental effect on the local environment."

Richborough's planning application is still being considered by BCP Council officers having first been submitted in summer 2019. Various updates and alterations have been filed since the initial proposal was tabled.

A spokesperson for Richborough Estates said: “This site has been allocated in the adopted Local Plan to bring forward much-needed new homes so that local people can find a suitable place to live.”