THE whistle has not yet been blown on Bromley Football Club’s expansion plans despite six months of battling between the two sides.

Bromley FC submitted an application to extend the facilities at its ground in Hayes Lane, Bromley, in January.

Its proposal included adding a full-size all-weather pitch, four five-a-side pitches and two seven-a-side pitches, and putting up floodlights and pitches.

The club’s application had been deferred by two planning committees and was rejected at a meeting on July 9.

Now Bromley FC has revised the application which includes just two five-a-side pitches, one seven-a-side pitch and the 11-a-side pitch.

But residents are still concerned about the development including the building on greenbelt land, potential light pollution from the floodlights and fears about the increase of traffic in the area.

Peter Ostacchini, 49, spoke at the last planning meeting to put across the concerns of residents in the Hayes Lane area.

He has also complained to London Mayor Boris Johnson and his MP, Bob Neill.

Mr Ostacchini said: “We are pretty alarmed.

“The main issue is that you are going to lose greenbelt land forever.

“It comes down to a matter of scale.

The Hayes Lane resident added: “If they want to do this for training pitches then they can go and train somewhere else.

“It is overdevelopment of this area and we don’t think it is permissible use.

“People are happy with the club on the site but we object to a massive increase in footprint.”

A Bromley FC spokesman said: “Various changes have been made to address the concerns of nearby residents.

“The proposal would provide a high quality centrally located sports facility for young people to access on a regular basis.

“It has already attracted the interest of the London FA who wish to use the new facilities as a venue to run training programmes to develop coaches.

“It is believed that these proposals will help to provide much needed training facilities in the borough maintaining and creating generations of new communities within the borough and helping to bring their families together.”