Residents are preparing to fight proposals for hundreds of homes in the green belt which are near an area of high air pollution.

Two planning applications have been submitted for homes on land either side of Chelford Road in Macclesfield, for more than 350 homes in total. The sites were included for development in the council’s new Local Plan, which was signed off last month.

But it came to light just after the plan was adopted that it was based on allegedly falsified air quality data for certain areas in the borough – including around the Broken Cross roundabout.

Now residents are concerned that if 350 homes are built at Chelford Road, they will only feed more traffic into Broken Cross and increase the already high levels of air pollution.

The area at Broken Cross roundabout was dedicated an ‘air quality management area’ by the council, who said the levels of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere are the highest in Macclesfield and above the national limit.

The Save Macclesfield Green Belt (SMGB) group has stated the development sites should never had been included on the Local Plan and are collecting photos of traffic problems in the area to help fight the development proposals.

Tim Whiteley, from SMGB, said: “The Chelford Road sites were included in the Local Plan based on false air quality figures, so they should never have been included. We want the Local Plan reviewed. The levels of pollution at Broken Cross are already high and now we’re talking about hundreds more homes nearby.

“Anyone who comes through Broken Cross knows the queues. The area has been named an ‘air quality management area’ and we should not be building homes nearby. It’s a disaster for people living in the area. We’re talking about people’s health. Residents are up in arms about this.”

It was revealed last month that air quality data for Broken Cross and other areas in the borough had allegedly been falsified in a report to Defra. An investigation by auditors stated ‘serious errors in the council’s air quality data’ as a result of ‘deliberate and systematic manipulation of data’.

The council has previously stated that no decisions on planning applications in Macclesfield have been affected by the falsified air quality data.

Police have launched an investigation into the manipulation of air quality data.