MORE than 50 furious residents packed into a Newport council meeting to protest against a housing development.

There has been local outrage ever since Bovis Homes announced it was to build new homes on land at Ridgeway.

A previous application for 77 homes was withdrawn last year, and another plan to put up 63 homes is currently going through an appeal process. Now another plan for 59 new three-storey houses and flats has been lodged.

A petition signed by around 700 people has already been given to Newport council in opposition to the scheme, planned for a site at Ridgeway Close and Ridgeway Park Road.

Residents say the development is not in keeping with the area, which they claim is already overdeveloped. They claim it will increase traffic and have an adverse effect on their views and light.

They want to see the planning application altered to include fewer and less tall homes.

At a meeting of Newport council's planning committee on Wednesday, after an hour-and-a-half of deliberations, a motion to reject the application was defeated.

Instead councillors agreed to make a visit to the site before making their final decision.

Local councillors David Fouweather and Matthew Evans are also objecting to the plans.

Councillor Evans said: "We welcome the site visit, I was reassured that there were sufficient councillors with concerns about the development. "The plan to put three-storey-houses overlooking bungalows is clearly inappropriate.

"Hopefully when the councillors make the site visit they will see the devastating effect the development will have on residents." Malcolm Schulze is chairman of the Ridgeway Community Centre, which is opposite the proposed site, and a member of the Ridgeway Residents' Group.

He said: "I am very pleased with the turn-out at the council. I think our presence and our banners made a real difference. "The council do seem to be listening."