WITH reference to the headteacher of Rowde Primary School, Mr David Ball's, letter (letters, March 18) I believe that most of the residents of Rowde are not opposed to a new school in the village if it were needed.

What I believe the residents are opposed to is the huge sacrifice our village will have to make to obtain this school.

In exchange for a new school it is proposed to build 48 new three, four and five-bedroom houses in a village with no facilities (shop, Post Office or garage etc.)

Half of the proposed new homes will be shoehorned into the current school site which is a protected recreational site in the centre and at the heart of our village.

The site is bordered on two sides by bungalows and on the other two sides by well-established houses. The proposed homes will be two, two and a half and three-storey houses with some ridge heights close to ten metres.

We are not NIMBYs and a small amount of change is necessary to keep a village thriving.

But surely any development, especially one in the centre of a village, must be in proportion and harmony with the existing and surrounding dwellings.

Furthermore, Rowde does not have the infrastructure to support the increase in people and traffic these new homes would bring. The loss of more greenfield land and the protected recreational site in the centre of the village, along with the distress and loss of privacy to the residents would be totally unacceptable.

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