Click here to see a gallery of what the development will look like

RESIDENTS are preparing to fight a £500m riverside regeneration project described as a "menace on the skyline".

They will argue proposals for 1,650 flats and houses on the former Vosper Thornycroft site at Woolston Riverside will cause traffic chaos because too many homes are crammed in.

Their battle against the huge development begins as the detailed planning application for the site was made public.

Under the proposals as many as 3,000 people are expected to live there by 2018, raising the prospect of a traffic nightmare that, it is claimed, road planners have yet to solve.

An environmental impact assessment predicts long queues of more than 1,150 cars over the Itchen Bridge by 2020, including 200 from the development, if nothing is done.

It says there are likely to be about 400 extra trips during rush hours and warns: "There will be a significant increase in traffic in the area."

The development section of Woolston Community Association will meet tonight to discuss the objections.

Chairman Andrew Middleton, said: "It's going to have a knock-on effect for miles around. I reckon the rush hour is going to increase by more than half an hour."

He added: "The biggest problem is there is virtually nothing they can do about it.

"Lots of extra cars are going to want to go across a single lane bridge."

The development could also force existing Woolston residents to pay to park outside their homes as the council extends residents' parking schemes to prevent parking overspill, Mr Middleton said.

The city council wants less than one parking space for each residential unit - just 1,402 residential spaces are planned.

Developer Crest Nicholson says it will encourage use of bicycles, buses and car sharing clubs. It will offer residents incentives such as interest free loans and subsidies for bus season tickets.

But Mr Middleton said the traffic problem stemmed from the number of homes. Just 148, or nine per cent, will be houses.

"It's vastly overcrowded with flats. Almost to the point of being ludicrously so," he added.

He said residents were also particularly concerned about three landmark apartment towers, rising up to 25 storeys (82m), that have been pulled ashore but retained from an earlier vision by world-famous architect Richard Rogers.

"People really hate those tall towers. I've not heard anyone say they are elegant. They are just going to be a menace on the skyline," Mr Middleton said.

Labour ward councillor Richard Williams said he would also be objecting to what he described as "edge of town cramming" and its impact on transport and parking.

"I cannot see how that site will accommodate that amount of extra units without extreme detrimental affect on residents,"

he said.

Pointing to a ten per cent increase in homes from an earlier plan he added: "My fear is it's developers wanting to squeeze extra money out of the site."

After a five-year wait, Crest Nicholson submitted plans for the 30-acre site last month.

It said it was planning to tackle transport issues with various junction improvements and traffic calming measures, a new gyratory traffic system around Woolston, two new bus routes, and it said it was also exploring the possibility of a water taxi to Ocean Village and a park-and-ride in Windhover.

Deborah Aplin, managing director of Crest Nicholson Regeneration, said: "A lot of work has been undertaken in relation to the transport and other physical regeneration aspects of the development.

She also welcomed the arrival of super-yacht manufacturer Palmer Johnson, which has announced widely welcomed plans to move into the marine business quarter, bringing up to 800 jobs.

The firm intends to build a 20,000 square metre facility to construct vessels up to 100- metres long.

Business and civic leaders had been worried that the space available for marine businesses had been slashed by almost half from the Rogers masterplan.

The shipbuilder VT once employed 4,500 people.

Southampton City Council made the plans publicly available last week after spending four weeks "processing" them.

The deadline for representations has been extended by almost a month to May 16.