A NEW watered down plan to controversially build 25 homes on green space in St John's has been submitted to the council despite more strong objections from locals.

A decision on a plan by Fortis Living to build affordable homes on roughly half of Sanctuary Park -a field surrounding Windsor Avenue allotments and next to St John’s cemetery - has been delayed for more than six months to allow for more studies to be carried out by the council.

Fortis has now re-submitted a plan to build 25 homes instead of the original 37 but neighbours are still concerned any development would destroy one of St John's few remaining green spaces and badly affect wildlife.

The original 37 home plan was deferred at two planning city council planning meetings in August and October last year with the latter postponement to give the council a chance to carry out in-depth flooding studies.

A new flood risk assessment carried out by BSP Consulting said the park would be in a 'more vulnerable' category for flooding but the site would be at a low risk of flooding from rivers, surface water or reservoirs.

The assessment also said the development would be safe and not cause floods or increase risk elsewhere.

More than 40 online comments and letters were sent to city council planners objecting to the first plan and a further 45 online comments objecting to the plan have been made since September last year.

More than 60 residents held a protest in November against the plan and Fortis held a public consultation in October at which 30 neighbours raised a range of objections including a fear over a loss of green and public space and increased traffic and parking.

The council's housing officers have continued to support the new plan largely because of a lack of affordable and social housing in the city.

Housing officers said the new plan with less homes would minimise the loss of green space for St John's and the park would be boosted by Fortis carrying out landscaping improvements around the area.

The new plan is expected to be discussed by the city council's planning committee at a meeting on March 21.