A HOUSING development which has received more than 700 objections this year has been recommended for approval.

The 125-home Overdown Rise development in Mile Oak will come before the planning committee on Wednesday with 353 objections attached. Its predecessor, rejected in April, had more than 360 opponents.

This updated proposal from Crest Nicholson has removed a vehicle access point and five houses from close to Mile Oak Road and proposes relocation of vulnerable wildlife from the area.

In addition to the 40 per cent affordable housing included in the scheme, Brighton and Hove City Council officers have proposed Crest Nicholson agrees to additional financial commitments, including £1 million for education and sport and £250,000 for transport.

Ward councillor Peter Atkinson said: “We need new housing but this is simply the wrong place to put it.”

He said the area’s GP surgeries were already running at capacity, as were bus links, and warned that even after widening, links roads could be “deadlocked” by additional cars.

A spokesman for Crest Nicholson said the firm had “made a number of important amendments” to the previous plans, including increasing the amount of public open space.

He added: “Crest Nicholson is also funding highway improvement works, which will see the widening of Fox Way, increasing capacity at the Hangleton Link Road/A293 roundabout, reducing existing congestion.”