A HOUSING development could lead to a rise in road traffic collisions in a Barnsley village, according to objections raised at a meeting.

The meeting last Wednesday night saw residents and councillors meet at Houghton Main Cricket Club to discuss a planning application for eight new three-bed houses on land off Lesmond Crescent and Rotherham Road in Middlecliffe raised by Halifax-based Eco Windows Ltd.

While people broadly support new housing in the area, objections concern whether the development could lead to an increase in traffic on what is seen as a busy four-way junction from out of the current estate on Lesmond Crescent - where the new development will be adjoined - onto Rotherham Road.

Parish councillor Kevin Osborne said: “It was encouraging to see so many people attending the meeting at relatively short notice.

“It’s clear many residents of Middlecliffe, Little Houghton and beyond have concerns - not about the development itself but the access to the development.”

The area around the junction has been the site of 23 of the 134 road traffic collisions causing injury in the last 20 years in the parish of Little Houghton, with Kevin commenting that speed reduction measures in place would not be sufficient to account for the increase in traffic from the development.

Attendees will be lodging formal objections to the plans, which can be viewed by searching the reference 2019/0984 on Barnsley Council’s planning portal.