Police and other authorities have accused Persimmon Homes of failing to address concerns over safety, parking and the environment in its plans for the major redevelopment of Workington’s former steelworks site.

The developer wants to build 650 homes on the former Corus steelworks site.

Detailed plans of the first 225 homes were approved by Allerdale in August and now Persimmon has submitted details for the next 91 properties.

But police, the county council and the Environment Agency, which were consulted by Allerdale council’s planners, have said Persimmon has not addressed key issues.

The county council says the proposed highway design and parking on the planned estate are inadequate, adding that part of the proposed estate would be too close to the coast.

Pieter Barnard, the county council’s lead officer in development management, said there should be a 75m buffer between coastal defences and any development.

He added that garages were too small to be officially recognised as parking spaces.

The council, as the local flood authority, also raised concerns that no filtration or cleaning system was in place to handle water run-off, leaving it to go straight into the sea.

The Environment Agency said the developer failed to monitor controlled waters as previously recommended in a report in 2008, which suggested copper, cadmium and chrome may have caused a water quality problem.

A subsequent report said no further evaluation was undertaken because the risk to controlled waters was re-examined and deemed low.

But Jilly Dougherty, the authority’s planning adviser, said: “This contradicts the findings of the earlier report. Given the fact that the report has not included laboratory analysis or a robust justification as to why the recommendations of the 2008 report have not been addressed for further monitoring, we recommend this matter needs further attention.”

Cumbria police’s crime prevention design adviser Andy Hunton said proposed fencing between back gardens was insufficient to restrict or deter intruders from roaming between them.

He added: “It would be helpful if the applicant could advise on how dwellings shall be protected against burglary.”

Workington Town Council’s planning committee has agreed to object to the plans.

Members said they would not support the application until Persimmon complied with the recommendations of the three bodies.

Town and borough councillor Barbara Cannon has called in the application, meaning a decision on whether to grant planning permission will have to be made by Allerdale council’s development panel, not by officers.

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes said: “We are currently working through the responses that have been received from the consultation. A further meeting has been scheduled with the planning officer so that we can discuss the responses to date.”