ANGRY Sawbridgeworth residents voiced concern about possible building on the town's Green Belt at a public meeting.

Early last month East Herts Council officers identified 2.5 acres of Green Belt land in Millfields as a potential site for about 20 new council houses.

About 50 residents were at a recent two-hour meeting with prospective Conservative parliamentary candidate Mark Prisk and East Herts councillor Diana Richards. The meeting was chaired by Sawbridgeworth town planning chairman David Baker.

However, East Herts Council failed to send a representative from its planning department to the meeting, despite repeated invitations, and meeting organiser and Sawbridgeworth resident Sarah Jones said she was disappointed with the council.

'They apologised profusely, and said they had meant to send someone along. It's a pity because we had a number of questions we wanted them to answer.'

Another 30 signatures were added to a 100-strong petition opposing further development.

Miss Jones said most people were concerned extra traffic could clog the town's fragile road system, and destroy their quality of life.

One resident had counted over 350 cars travel past his home in a few hours, while others complained they could no longer park outside their houses because of the traffic. Some said further congestion outside Reedings Junior School in Bullfields Road could lead to a tragedy.

Miss Jones said: 'This is rural suburban England and we just don't have the infrastructure to support more cars generated by extra housing.'

Mrs Richards said a large proportion of residents were having problems gaining access to their homes, which could be made worse if extra cars entered the traffic stream.

She said: 'They have very minimal access already. The road leading to the proposed development is like a cart track.'