COMMUNITY leaders have opposed proposals to build homes on land safeguarded for a major road development. Development Securities and Bloor Homes have submitted plans to build 49 homes in Broughton on land next to a 271-home development already being built. The homes would go on land Flintshire Council has safeguarded for a new interchange on the A55. If the proposals go ahead, 39 of the homes would be built on land not designated for housing under Flintshire Council land use strategies. Planning permission for 10 homes within the defined site has already been approved, but the new application hopes to increase that by 39, making a total of 49 new houses. At a meeting of Broughton and Bretton Community Council, members warned that if the permission was granted, the interchange would could never go ahead. Councillors have repeatedly argued that existing traffic problems will be exacerbated by further housing. Broughton has also argued that the village has received more than its fair share of new housing developments, over and above numbers allocated to it in the current unitary development land use plan. Cllr Sue Stevens said the council needed to object strongly. “Once that land’s gone, we’ve got no land for an interchange,” she said. “Flintshire should back us up and refuse it.” Flintshire councillor Derek Butler confirmed the land was safeguarded for a future interchange. “They’ve got every right to apply for it but as it stands it would be down for refusal,” he said. Community clerk Noel Barnes said both Welsh Government planning minister Carl Sargeant AM and Airbus UK, which employs 6,000 workers at its Broughton-based plant, had been canvassed for support in opposing the bid. “Airbus could be affected by not having this new interchange,” he said. But in its application, Development Securities has argued the upgrade to the interchange was planned to facilitate a major extension to the Broughton Shopping Park that never took place. They said there was now no need for the interchange to be upgraded. Earlier this year, Andrew Farrow, Flintshire Council’s chief planning officer confirmed the land in question was outside the settlement boundary and that the council was “more than aware of the importance of this site in relation to the future of Broughton”. He added: “For this reason, the council will continue to resist any proposals for housing on the land and continue to raise awareness at the highest level of the threat proposed by such development.” At the time, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: “If insufficient housing is being built, then it is for the local planning authority to review whether they have the right housing sites in their plan.”