Concerned residents have vowed to fight any move to build houses on an open space in the Linnvale area of Clydebank.

A protest has been sparked after the land adjacent to Strauss Avenue was listed in a planning document as a potential site for 100 private houses.

Residents fear a housing development at the site, currently used for recreation and dog walking, would cause an increase in traffic through the narrow and congested streets of Linnvale.

They say this would put residents and pupils of nearby Linnvale Primary School at risk.

Around 30 people turned up at this month’s meeting of Linnvale and Drumry Community Council to express their concern.

However, the protest soon escalated and, on Wednesday of last week, representations from 411 Linnvale residents were lodged at the planning and building standards office of West Dunbartonshire Council.

John Hainey, chair of the community council, was present when the representations were handed in.

Mr Hainey said: “The council have indicated they would not be averse to housing going there.

“The land in question is at the easternmost end of Clydebank and is partially owned by the council and a housing development company.

“Linnvale has a single road leading into and out of Livingstone Street – and has a bottleneck at the Argyle Street roundabout.

“This site, which is partly bog-land and has a stream running underground, is directly under the Glasgow Airport flightpath with all the problems associated with this noise.

“It is well used for recreation – ie, dog walking, etcetera – and there are local plans to improve it for recreation. It has never been designated for housing.”

Resident of Linnvale, Stuart Gray, said: “This WDC-proposed plan envisages about 100 houses being built on the designated ‘Open Space’ to the east of Strauss Avenue, Linnvale.

“By far the majority of Linnvale residents are opposed to this scheme of re-zoning this from ‘Open Space’ to ‘Housing,’ because it will cause an increase in road traffic through the narrow and already-congested streets of Linnvale.

“This will constitute a danger to residents and the pupils of Linnvale Primary School, past which this traffic will flow.

Dawn Fyfe, who grew up in Linnvale and whose mother still lives there, said: “I cannot imagine this would be a successful development without opening up the area to Great Western Road – an issue that has been raised under previous administrations and has been consistently rejected by the community.”

Mr Gray said that such was the strength of feeling, it would be “standing room only” when representatives of WDC’s planning department attend a meeting of Linnvale and Drumry Community Council on Monday, December 10.

The meeting will take place in Drumry Community Centre, Onslow Road, starting at 7pm.

A spokesperson for West Dunbartonshire Council said: “The purpose of this consultation is to allow the community to provide their feedback and we would encourage residents to ensure they submit their comments to us to ensure they are considered as part of the process.”