Concerns over plans to build hundreds of retirement homes and a research facility in Norfolk have been raised by the local council.

Castlemeadow Care submitted a planning application for inter-generational smart homes on the estate of Colney Hall, adjacent to the Norwich Research Park earlier this month.

The University of East Anglia is the strategic research and training partner for the proposal.

Professor Tim O’Riordan, the co-chair of Colney Parish Council, said he was concerned about overdevelopment of the village which has just 160 residents, the BBC reported.

“We accept there is a need for the hospital and the research park, but there’s no need for this to be here,” he said.

Professor Charles ffrench-Constant, UEA pro-vice chancellor for medicine and health sciences, has described the development as “pioneering”.

Development project manager, Dr Saul Humphrey, said concerns about overdevelopment were “subjective”, adding the scheme had been carefully designed to balance the needs of the UEA with those of the local area.