A number of villagers and the parish council lost a battle last week against a developer building 14 affordable homes on a flood-hit field in Byfield Road, when Daventry District Council gave the planning application the go-ahead.

Irene Gascoigne, who lives next to the site, said: “We’re not against affordable housing - people need somewhere to live. But we were are against its position.”

A number of local residents raised concerns about flooding problems, with fears that too much pressure on the current sewage system and stream that runs through the village will result in repeat floods that have hit the area for a number of years.

Mrs Gascoigne’s son, Kevin, said: “That field is always under water. It’s like a big sponge.

“It’s inevitable that development will happen but it’s in the wrong place.

“Our concerns have been dismissed and the sad thing is it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the application would be approved.

“This will affect the whole village but they [the council] seemed oblivious to the consequences that could happen.”

Eamon McDowell, a district council planning officer, said the issue of flooding had been looked into and although the field is subject to flooding, it is not a floodplain.

Other concerns from neighbours included the loss of green land, insufficient infrastructure in the village, increased crime and anti- social behaviour and highway safety on Byfield Road.

A housing needs survey carried out by Midlands Rural Housing in October 2007 concluded there was a need for affordable houses within the village, and although the parish council agrees with the result, it feels the site is inappropriate.

Bernadette Rogers, chairman of the parish council, said: “We are concerned that serious flooding is likely to occur.

“The field is perpetually water logged.

“Our intention is to ensure the surface water problem is fixed.”

The district council’s planning committee agreed at a meeting last Wednesday that the application should be approved subject to securing details on surface water measures and funding to provide a pedestrian crossing on Byfield Road, as well as a number of other conditions.

Servite Houses, a national housing association, is proposing to build a mixture of two and three bedroom houses and bungalows on the site, some of which will be for rent and some will be shared ownership, where the tenant will own a percentage of the property and rent the rest.