A city councillor has branded a recent consultation on village centre plans "woeful" as residents continue to voice concerns about future development of green spaces in and around Packmoor.

Community engagement has taken place to seek views on how amenities, housing and transport can be improved in the village – but the timing of events in December has been questioned by residents.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council is considering developing some of the 75 hectares (185 acres) of farmland it owns to create a new village centre for Packmoor. But residents fear that more than 900 homes could be built on the land – a claim that has been rejected by the authority.

On Monday (February 10), dozens of residents attended a meeting organised by Packmoor Newtown, Newchapel and Harriseahead Community Group. They were given information on the next steps forward and encouraged to provide written feedback.

Jan Bridges, chair of the community group, said: "There has been a lot of confusion and a lot of traffic on social media. I will explain what processes need to be followed going forward.

"The December consultation meetings will form a draft proposal, which will lay out in detail what the council proposes to do. You will get another chance at consultation at that point.

"The Local Plan sets out in detail what sites around the city are going to be used for, with defined areas for residential, industrial, shops and workplaces. If we want to put in a representation to the council, there are only certain things they will accept."

Cllr Dave Evans, who attended the meeting to provide details about the planning process, described the recent consultation process as as "woeful". He added: "I think the consultation document put out was misleading because it does not use the words 'Local Plan' at any point in it.

"It is important in my view, when you are going through this process, you are upfront and honest. I don't think the consultation was as upfront as it should be – at best this has been done shambolically."

The Conservative member said any proposals set out in the Local Plan would still require planning permission to be granted before development could take place. But he added that the authority was unlikely to be the developer.

"My concern is the way the council is going about it – it's the wrong site", he told residents. "One of the reasons I supported the motion (at full council) is if you allow developers to build on greenfield sites they are going to want to.

"It's quicker and cheaper than the brownfield (previously developed) sites that are more difficult. It's important to get a Local Plan in place because if you don't, you are in danger of creating a developers' charter."

Dozens of residents attended a meeting organised by Packmoor Newtown, Newchapel and Harriseahead Community Group (LDRS)

Cllr Evans highlighted the village nature of the Packmoor area and said that "sense of place" was an important consideration. 

He added: "This area and my ward (Badderley, Milton and Norton) are the only two areas in the city that still have a rural nature to them.

"Infrastructure for the local area is essential and people want to see brownfield sites regenerated. We don't want to see areas that are derelict."

Last month Cllr Chandra Kanneganti, who represents Goldenhill and Sandyford as a Conservative member, presented a motion to the full council urging the authority's cabinet to not include city council-owned fields and green spaces in and around Packmoor in the forthcoming Local Plan for residential development.

 The motion failed to gain sufficient support at the council meeting however.

The council's monitoring officer advised that the authority "should not fetter its discretion in the way the motion suggests for legal, financial and planning reasons".

He also voiced his concern that "passing such a motion could restrict options and hamper the development of the Local Plan and would ultimately likely be unsuccessful during the Local Plan inspection process."

Council leader Jane Ashworth, speaking at last month's full council meeting, said: "Brownfield has to be first, of course. But that doesn't stop consideration of other patches of land.

"The motion is pre-emptive of the Local Plan process. There is a heavily statute-bound process which we have to go through – if we pre-empt discussions now by making decisions on this, that or the other piece of land, then we stand at risk of a Secretary of State review."

David Mountford, Labour councillor for Great Chell and Packmoor, announced at the start of the meeting that he would not be able to take part in the debate on the motion, as he rented council-owned land which could be part of the Local Plan. 

Fellow Labour councillor Sue Akkurt, who represents the same ward, abstained on the vote, due to the consultation still continuing at that time.