The start of work on the controversial Chesterton Gardens development in Leamington is being blighted by workers "aggressively" speeding and lorries mounting the pavements.

Those were the claims of one neighbour who made a plea to Warwick District Council's planning committee this week in the wake of construction getting underway. 

Bellway Homes Limited went before councillors to ask to delay the installation of a permanent access road through Brimstone End into the Chesterton Gardens plot where work is beginning on 185 new homes.

The current permission, granted by a national inspector, states the road access and safety measures must be in place ahead of the first home being occupied.

Bellway asked for that to be pushed back until the final home is filled with an alternative temporary access installed for the construction phase – one which Warwickshire County Council's highways experts said would be an improvement on what is there now – partly so heavy goods vehicles don't damage the works. 

However, neighbour Jez Brooks insisted the current conditions were more necessary than ever on the back of a bad start to relations between homeowners in Brimstone End and those delivering to the site.

Starting with a plea to Bellway and local representative Cllr Will Roberts to work on opening up a second access near Campion School, Mr Brooks said: "Everyone knows that land will form part of the next phase for around 300 homes anyway. If that route were planned now it would remove the danger, the stress for current residents and the need for this application.

"You may not be legally obliged to do it today but for the sake of everyone involved, please make the effort to find a solution now. 

"We are already seeing why these conditions matter. In the first few weeks deliveries have arrived early, sometimes several lorries at once, and the site manager has admitted to me personally that multiple drivers have been told not to return for speeding. 

"The barriers around the trenches outside my home aren't secured. They blow into the road almost daily and leave gaps where my four and two-year-olds and other local children aged four to nine could fall through, even though I have made multiple requests to the site manager to have them secured.

"When neighbours briefly blocked contractors' vans because of the road works last week, drivers leaned on their horns and sped off aggressively through the estate.

"This is the lived reality of construction on a road that was never designed for it and the reasons that the inspector imposed these conditions in the interests of highway safety in the first place.

"Every vehicle entering or leaving the site must pass our homes at this bottleneck. Lorries are already mounting the pavement opposite to pass one another and delaying the permanent safety works would place residents and bridleway users at continued risk. 

"Residents are not asking for miracles, only that the inspector's conditions remain as written."

Bellway's senior planning manager Chris O'Hanlon spoke after that but did not make any reference to Mr Brooks's allegations, focusing solely on the requested changes.

"I can assure you that Bellway is not seeking to remove these obligations and that they will be implemented," he said.

"We are seeking to implement them in such a way that minimises disruption and delay on the local highway network."

Many councillors referred back to the problems with Cllr Claire Wightman describing the story as "quite distressing". 

Cllr James Kennedy argued such "significant breaches" were something for the council to "look at very closely".

"It is of great danger and residents are very upset about it, quite rightly," he said before moving on to the proposed tweaks and how they would provide safe access for walkers and cyclists who move in before the final occupier does.

Dave Pilcher of the county council's highways department explained how it would be connected to the current bridleway, which runs across the road access, and paths while also being "fenced off and separate from the construction vehicles".

He later indicated it would be a better option that what is in place despite not being as robust as the permanent solution. 

Questions were also asked about why this had come forward with many councillors taking the view that it was a cost-saving exercise on Bellway's part.

Cllr Becky Davidson said: "What I am hearing is that nothing has changed since the original application other than this making it easier for the developers.

"I have a development in my ward with more than 200 homes with the road markings still not finished, they have to pull out onto a 40 miles per hour road with no markings. It is diabolical. 

"If we are waiting for the last house to come in when we have more than 100 homes occupied, that's disastrous."

The application was rejected by nine votes to one. Cllr Bill Gifford cast the sole vote in favour.