Residents in Crosby are ’sorely disappointed’ over the building of a new estate in the heart of the village, says the chairman of Marown Commissioners.

Work on 28 new homes and a retail unit is currently taking place on land at Ballaglonney Farm.

Alison Lynch said despite failing to successfully appeal the development, the Commissioners have managed to ensure certain ’important’ conditions will be met by developer JM Project Management.

These include the creation of a new pedestrian crossing for one of the ’busiest roads on the island’, which must be in place before any new home is occupied.

Mrs Lynch said: ’I would say the majority of Marown residents are sorely disappointed with what’s happened.’

She said the crossing is badly needed, as Crosby sees a lot of traffic passing through from the west of the island.Figures from traffic counts conducted in the village during September showed that a total of 64,000 vehicles passed through in a week - an average of 80% were speeding.

Mrs Lynch said: ’The most important thing for the people of Marown and the people of Crosby, and indeed the people who are going to be living on the development, was a pedestrian crossing.’

Other conditions secured by the Commissioners relate to the shops on the new estate - there must be two units not one, there cannot be advertising boards outside and no produce can be sold outside.

Mrs Lynch said this was to ’keep the character of the village as much as we possibly can’.

She said that those who are moving into the development, which will include some who already live in the parish, will be pleased it’s going ahead.

But other residents will be worried about ’development creep’ and what may come out of the area plan for the east.