Residents have vowed to continue fighting plans to earmark Green Belt land for 3,000 homes – which they say would be like building 'another Blythe Bridge'.

The 113 hectare site at Lightwood is now the single largest housing allocation in Stoke-on-Trent City Council's draft local plan.

Thousands of residents objected to the site's inclusion during a consultation last year, raising concerns over the loss of Green Belt land and the impact on wildlife and local roads.

But the city council has kept the BL1 site allocation unchanged in the latest version of the draft plan.

Lightwood Community Group organised a public meeting to discuss the local plan on Wednesday night, with residents opposition remaining undimmed.

The council will launch a second round of consultation on 3 August, with a planning inspector set to carry out a public inquiry into the local plan next year.

Community group leaders urged residents to respond to the new consultation, and they are also planning to raise funds to pay for professional consultants.

Group chair David Evans told the meeting that residents arguments' against site BL1 would have to be 'fact-based'.

He said: "We probably put in close to 2,500 objections during the first consultation. But the council have not listened and they haven't reduced the allocation by a single house.

"After the consultation is over, an independent adjudicator will look at the viability and legality of the plan, to see if it's been done correctly. And if they agree that it's right, we get 3,000 houses in Lightwood.

"So what we're saying now is we've got to fight, we've got to be fact-based, we have to put arguments forward that people will listen to."

Mr Evans said the community group, which is run by volunteers, would be looking at various ways of raising funds to pay for professional support.

Cocknage resident Lorraine Zutshi said that a development of 3,000 homes would generate more than 7,000 car trips a day, create demand for 1,140 school places and 47,000 extra GP appointments.

She said local roads can be 'carnage' if there is an accident on the A50 based on existing levels of trafic.

Ms Zutshi added: "One of the reasons I moved here was because I really valued the green space and the nature around us.

"We understand that more homes are needed, but when you look around Stoke-on-Trent, it baffles me why we can't build on more brownfield sites, and build up not out.

"BL1 is the largest allocation in the plan. It would be like building another Blythe Bridge and Forsbrook between Lightwood, Meir Heath, Rough Close and Cocknage. "

Sadaqat Maqsoom, councillor for Lightwood North and Normacot, told the meeting that the next round of consultation would consider the 'soundness' of the plan, meaning objections will need to raise specific problems.

He said: "If this site remains in the plan it will fundamentally change our community. The plan talks about protecting the environment, and yet it proposes building on Green Belt.

"It talks about sustainable development, and yet residents continue to raise concerns about infrastructure, traffic and local services. These are the issues we must ask the planning inspector to examine carefully."

The local plan, once adopted, will guide all development in Stoke-on-Trent up to 2040, showing where around 19,000 homes will be built.

A six-week consultation is set to run from 3 August to 14 September. Responses to the consultation will be submitted for examination along with the final draft version of the plan later in the year.