A developer hoping to build 200 homes in Beltinge has been urged to construct a through road before starting the work.

Beltinge councillor Ian Stockley (Con) has lobbied Kitewood Estates to build the new road to prevent traffic chaos in the village.

Kitewood’s scheme, on which a public consultation will be held on Wednesday, is on land behind Osborne Gardens and is one of three planned developments in Hillborough.

Taylor Wimpey hopes to build 955 homes, while a separate application for an unspecified number of properties is expected from another developer.

Cllr Stockley has urged them to construct a thoroughfare linking the sites to Sweechbridge Road before construction begins.

“It would remove the necessity for lorries to travel through the village,” he said.

“The road will be built anyway, so it won’t have to be dug up at the end of the project and inconvenience the developers.”

Cllr Stockley fears heavy goods vehicles will travel along Reculver Road and Osborne Gardens to access the site.

“The only way on to Kitewood’s site is via these roads and they aren’t wide enough,” he said.

“The people of Beltinge are far more likely to welcome the development if it doesn’t impact adversely on their lifestyle.”

Residents have started a petition opposing access to the site through Beltinge.

Veronica Lewis, of Osborne Gardens, is leading the campaign and has labelled the idea of lorries travelling through the village “insane”.

She said: “We understand that the homes will be built, but we don’t want it to inconvenience us and disrupt our lives.”

Two of Mrs Lewis’s neighbours have sold their homes to Kitewood, which she expects will be bulldozed to make way for a road into the site.

“I’m right next to this, but I can’t afford to move out because I’m a pensioner,” she said.

The consultation event takes place between 3pm and 8pm at the Reculver and Beltinge Memorial Hall.