RESIDENTS who fear their village could be swamped by extra holidaymakers from a proposed log cabin park are in danger of losing their battle to stop the project.

RESIDENTS who fear their village could be swamped by extra holidaymakers from a proposed log cabin park are in danger of losing their battle to stop the project.

A revised application for 64 log cabins on a field at Foxburrow Farm, Waldringfield Road, Brightwell, has received support from planning officers at Suffolk Coastal District Council.

In their report to the development control sub committee on June 21 they recommend approval for the scheme if English Nature is satisfied there will be no adverse impact on the area. BT objected to the first set of plans but the company has now stated there would be no major impact upon its antenna testing facilities at Martlesham Heath.

However, villagers in Waldringfield are campaigning against the tourist park. The village has a population of 392 residents and they fear their attractive riverside village will be overrun by hundreds of holidaymakers generated by the new project. There are already more than 1,000 caravan spaces close to the village.

Nearly 60 people have written to oppose the scheme and Waldringfield Parish Council is concerned about the village being overcrowded, a lack of parking in the village and potential traffic problems.

Patricia O'Brien, Waldringfield's district councillor, said: ''Although the applicant has mooted a Green Travel Plan, people, especially those on holiday, like to be independent and free to explore the surroundings at will.

''The peaceful and charming setting of Waldringfield is an attraction and additional traffic from the site would contravene planning policy.''

The committee report states: ''There can be no doubt of the waterside attraction of Waldringfield, particularly during the peak summer period. However, it would be wrong to assume that all visitors to the proposed log cabins will visit this attraction at the same time, or that they will wish to spend the majority of their stay in Waldringfield.''

The applicants said they wanted to create a high quality environment with a minimum of man-made features, and the log cabins would look better than caravans. Visitors would be encouraged to hire cycles and use a minibus for local journeys and a new lake would be created to take surface water run-off from the development.

The number of log cabins has been reduced from 122 in the first application, refused last year by the district council, to 64.