Concerned residents say plans for 100 new homes in Longtown would have a "detrimental" affect on their lives.

Objectors are worried about the increased volume of traffic and how the privacy of their properties would be affected with so many new neighbours.

Gleeson Homes and Regeneration has submitted an application for planning permission to build the homes, on land east of Briar Lea Court, where outline planning consent for 61 homes was already approved in February.

The developer wants to built a mixture of two, three and four-bedroom detached and semi-detached homes on the 2.79 hectare site.

A letter of objection, submitted by about 20 people, said: "This development will be detrimental to the lives of people living in Briar Lea Court and Old Road."

It claims several properties in Briar Lea Court would have less sunlight and little privacy if the development was given the go ahead.

There are also concerns that Longtown Primary School may not be able to accommodate so many new families and that existing sewerage system would not be able to cope.

Objectors also say there are brownfield sites earmarked for development elsewhere in the town, including the former Lochinvar School site.

Robin Hall, a resident of Briar Lea Court for 20 years, was one of eight residents at an Arthuret Parish Council meeting.

He presented the group's concerns to community leaders.

The 64-year-old former police inspector said: "It will increase the volume of traffic on the A6071 and Old Road.

"The A6071 is treated like a racetrack despite being within a 30 mph limited. "

Mr Hall said he was pleased however that the parish council had supported residents and that an objection from Cumbria County Council also added weight to their campaign.

The parish council's vice-chairman Gordon Routledge said: "Based on the delegation that came to the meeting and the number of concerns raised the parish council had to support the people.

"We shared their views about access from the Old Road and the extra volume of traffic, which is not a good thing.

"We were very much against that.

"There were concerns about the drainage and also about the additional sewage because there have been problems of flooding in the last couple of winters."

He added: "Ultimately if they keep building houses they (the authorities) should be considering building another secondary school here.

"They took away [Lochinvar School] seven or eight years ago and keep on building houses and talk about busing people away to Brampton and so on.

"A town this size should warrant its own secondary school."

The parish council did not object to the first application but had raised concerns about the drainage and ongoing sewerage problems in that area.

Cumbria County Council, as the lead highways and flood authority, objected, on the grounds that the proposed development is not suitable in terms of off-street parking and surface water drainage.

A spokeswoman for Gleeson Homes said: “This will be our first development in Cumbria and we look forward to bringing much-needed low cost homes to the region and helping first time buyers get onto the property ladder.

"When planning the development we have ensured that Carlisle City Council’s privacy distances have been met and in some cases we have exceeded these distances when our homes are close to existing properties.

"The planning proposal is still at an early stage.

"However, we will also work closely with the council’s highways team to ensure the new homes don’t negatively impact on local traffic levels.

"Throughout our developments we look to work with the local community.”