RESIDENTS staged a 24-hour road blockade to protest against plans to build 16 one-bedroom homes in their street.

Paul Gardiner, 38, of Coleville Road, High Wycombe, was one of more than 100 residents who kept sentry duty to make sure no vehicles passed along the private road on Friday and Saturday.

The former army physical education instructor said he would fight the plans all the way and would even try to stop builders from gaining access to the site by barricading the street and turning the diggers away.

Mr Gardiner said: 'If planning permission is granted, it will get a lot more serious. It is a private road so we won't allow the contractors any access and will park our cars in the way to stop them.'

Mr Gardiner and other residents of Coleville Road installed a barrier on Friday night to prevent anyone from using the road, as they held their annual street party, in protest at the plans.

Mr Gardiner said: 'We blocked off the end of the road and only residents were allowed in and out. We posted sentries on the barrier all night.'

At least 130 people signed a petition against the plans and it was handed in to Wycombe District Council at the end of last month.

Mr Gardiner, who now works as a market research manager, added: 'Nobody here wants this to happen. It will lead to overcrowding, noise and more pollution.

'The road is very safe for children at the moment, but this development would open it up and cause more and more problems for everybody in the street.'

The blueprints for the development, which were submitted to the district council earlier this year, pinpoint land in between Plumer Road and Coleville Road for the development.

A Wycombe District Council spokesman confirmed two petitions had been handed in and 134 residents had signed in opposition to the plans.

She said: 'We are likely to reach a decision by the end of July, unless the application is called to the planning applications panel.'