Hundreds of concerned residents have packed into a church this week to express concerns over the newly produced draft local plan.

The plan is set to see the construction of thousands of new houses across the city.

Now Bucknall residents have said plans to build 1,139 new homes on Eaves Lane haven't been thought through. The local plans will guide all development across the city until 2040 and have allocated sites which see 18,528 new homes built.

This week a public meeting was held at the Pentecostal church in Eaves Lane which was standing room only. Residents had the chance to question councillors on the plans and raise concerns about potential development.

A number of concerns were raised including the impact on the road network, impact on wildlife and why the site was chosen in the first place rather than brownfield land.

Speaking at the meeting Cllr Lyn Watkins said the responses to the draft plan would be used to inform the final plan which would be sent to the planning inspectorate for approval.

She said: "That's what it is a draft local plan. We might not always agree with what the national government do but all local authorities have been asked to come up with a draft local plan.

"It's not, and I know you might not believe me, it's not a done deal – there is no land that has been sold, no contractors appointed and there's no planning application gone in as yet. People are concerned about schools, GP appointments, traffic, air quality. 

"So we understand your concerns but bear in mind it's not a done deal, nothing has been decided yet.

"The draft plans goes to a final version, that's then going to the inspectorate, if any greenbelt around the city is decided that comes from the secretary of state, it's not a decision the local authority makes."

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Heather Blurton who represents Bucknall and Eaton Park said that it was a bad location to build on and called for more development on brownfield land rather than green spaces around the city.

She said: "It's a shame the Labour councillors admit that they were happy to wait for the local plan to go to the next stage and then discuss developments on the greenbelt rather than trying to fight it now while they are in power.

"It's not a thought through location, it's only going to take transport down Werrington Road which is already at capacity, which is already somewhere you can't travel at rush hour.

"It doesn't hold the infrastructure to have a development of 1,200 houses and it is out of place for the location.

"They've not considered anything like the flooding, the wildlife and the air quality. They've just found a piece of land that can accommodate a large number of houses which takes them away from developing the brownfields."