Plans to build 107 homes in Leavesden have been granted outline planning permission.

Three Rivers district councillors were divided over the proposal but ultimately chose to approve it in a planning meeting last night.

This means the developers, Bucknalls Development, will submit further plans before a final decision is made.

Residents started a petition to stop the development in November, fearing that increased traffic in the area would pose a threat to schoolchildren.

The houses will only be accessible via Bucknalls Lane, which children cross to get to Coates Way School.

Online, the plan received 40 objections from neighbours and only three supporting comments.

Three Rivers district councillor Peter Getkahn, a planning committee member, said: “Although we have some concerns with the plans, we decided to go with the planning officers’ recommendation and grant permission.

“The committee was pretty divided on it; people’s opinions were pretty mixed but we didn’t really have a leg to stand on.”

Stephen Giles-Medhurst, a Three Rivers councillor who slammed the plans last year, noted the plans did not include a second emergency access to the homes.

He was also concerned about infrastructure in the area. He said that in the past three years, no one living more than 700 metres away from Coates Way School could get their child enrolled there.

He said more houses would only increase the number of children unable to attend their first-choice school.

But a county officer said children could attend Beechfield School in Gammon Lane, North Watford.

Hertfordshire County Council has a policy that states settlements of 300 houses or more should have more than one access route to the highway, but this is only guidance.

If these houses are built, there will only be one access route for more than 500 homes.