LONG-TOUTED plans to build 81 homes in Waltham Chase have been submitted to city chiefs.

Bargate Homes wants to build two, three and four-bedroom houses with some smaller flats and bungalows in the east end of the village.

It has been in talks with Shedfield Parish Council for half a decade and has had the land, on either side of Forest Road, selected as a preferred housing plot by Winchester City Council.

The outline proposals include 44 homes and open space north of Forest Road, with 37 houses on the other side.

More than 30 of the proposed homes would be at affordable rent, the developer says.

It comes after a string of meetings with parish councillors and a public exhibition in March, where concerns were raised about traffic congestion, drainage and pedestrian access to the site.

The current public consultation ends on June 18, while neighbours can comment until June 25.