CAMPAIGNERS will voice fears over pollution, overcrowding and the loss of green space at meeting to discuss plans for housing on a former school site.

Residents in Rottingdean are meeting over proposals for more houses in the village as they bid to safeguard St Aubyns Field.

Linden Homes and Cothill Educational Trust (CET) have jointly submitted three applications to Brighton and Hove City Council encompassing 48 homes and a 62-bed care home on the site of what was St Aubyns School, which closed in 2013.

The development, if approved, would see the grade II-listed building converted into housing and more homes built on the field. Four listed cottages on the site would also be converted while a chapel, war memorial and water fountain would be retained under the submitted proposals.

The plans were revised down from 105 homes pitched at a public exhibition in January.

Nigel Smith, vice chairman of St Aubyns Field Evergreen (SAFE), said the space was the “lung of the village” and hopes the meeting, to be held on Wednesday, October 7, in Rottingdean Village Hall will give people a chance to object.

He said: “We have until October 16 to make our objections, and broadly speaking, the more objections there are, the better the chance of the planning applications being rejected.”

Those objecting to the scheme would have to file separate objections for each application.

Linden Homes and the CET insist the scheme will see two thirds of the field preserved and handed over for public use, with ten properties and the care home on the rest.

But SAFE hopes to get the whole field protected in the council’s City Plan to stop any development. This is seen as the most realistic option because the site is ultimately owned by CET.

Conservative MP Simon Kirby has supported SAFE in its aims. He said: “I believe it is right the area is preserved for the use of the village and those who wish to use the fields for recreational purposes.”

Peter Youll, managing director of Linden Homes, said: “The new buildings have been designed with continual emphasis on the site’s heritage and local context in order to create an attractive and sympathetic development.

“Not only have we been able to retain the site’s listed buildings and key heritage features, but the new-build homes and care home would also feature high-quality, traditional materials and design features found in Rottingdean.

“We also understand the wishes of the community to see as much of the private playing field retained as possible. While some development in this section of the site is necessary to ensure the scheme’s viability, we believe the retention and opening up of 1.6 hectares for future community use is a key benefit of these proposals.”