DISAPPOINTED Sham residents have had their hpes fr a railway statin fr the twn dashed after plans fr mre than 100 new hmes went n display. They were ptimistic that the prject fr 120 hmes n land between Statin Rad and Spencer Drve wuld i

DISAPPOINTED Sham residents have had their hpes fr a railway statin fr the twn dashed after plans fr mre than 100 new hmes went n display.

They were ptimistic that the prject fr 120 hmes n land between Statin Rad and Spencer Drve wuld include a new statin after it featured n the plans.

But architects managing the prject claim they were simply meeting East Cambridgeshire District Cuncil requirements and had n plans t include a statin in their planning applicatin.

"An illustratin f a 'new' statin was included n the plans and sme residents went away with the impressin that if they apprved the develpment, a statin wuld be included," said resident Dnna Martin.

Chris Exley, managing the develpment fr SMC Architects n behalf f develper City and Reginal Estates said, hwever: "The request frm East Cambridgeshire District Cuncil was t indicate what culd ptentially g n the site, but that wn't be included in a planning applicatin as we dn't wn the statin site r cntrl what ges n it."

Netwrk Rail has als cnfirmed that it has n imminent plans t build a statin in the twn.

But an East Cambridgeshire District Cuncil spkesman said cuncil fficers had advised the develper that the statin site was safeguarded and cycle paths and ftpaths between a ptential statin and the new estate shuld be examined.

Mre than 170 lcal residents turned ut n Friday and Saturday t examine the prvisinal architectural drawings fr the estate which wuld run parallel t Mereside.

"Cmmn themes were cncerns abut fld and traffic management, but there is a lng way still t g," said Mr Exley.

He added that the plans wuld g t a secnd cnsultatin befre a planning applicatin is submitted in June.

"We were very pleased with the turnut," he added, "and sme residents were very infrmative n the histry f the site."

The area was previusly allcated fr emplyment use by East Cambridgeshire District Cuncil, but plans t reclassify it fr residential use are nw under discussin.