OUTRAGED residents are stepping up their campaign against proposals to demolish their historic homes.

Householders from Bramley Crescent and part of Perth Road, Gants Hill, are determined to fight tooth and nail to prevent their homes, originally built for World War One heroes, being destroyed to make way for a supermarket.

Members of The Bramley Crescent/part Perth Road Residents Association staged an awareness day outside Bramley Crescent car park on Sunday to enlist petitions and community support.

Their last-ditch bid for support was held in advance of tonight's full council meeting where councillors are set to decide whether they will keep the roofs over their heads.

Chairwoman of the specially formed action group Barbara White, who lives with husband Frank, told the Guardian: "We've lived here for over 30 years and the majority of people have lived here for 40-odd years.

"People have brought their families up in their homes and now their grandchildren come to visit them. We have an 81-year-old lady who has lived here for 60 years and is partially sighted.

"There's a lot of history attached to the area as these houses were built after World War One as homes for heroes, the men who fought in the war. I would imagine they are turning in their graves over this. We are all devastated."

The shock proposals were discovered by residents just months after they forwarded suggestions on the proposed development of the Odeon Cinema, which was bulldozed last year.

To their horror, they discovered that planners proposed three options for the development, two of which would involve bulldozing houses in Bramley Crescent and part of Perth Road.

The first option, and most favoured by Bramley Crescent residents and local area councillors, would be to place the development on the Odeon Cinema site, Valentines pub and Bramley Crescent car park.

However, the second option involved the extra demolition of houses to the north of Bramley Crescent, while the third, and most devastating, would flatten homes to the south of Bramley Crescent and Arodene House, Perth Road.

Residents' fears were realised when the council's cabinet agreed in November to the second option, which would mean demolishing the north side of the crescent.

However, this decision was challenged by Newbury ward Labour councillors Alex Hilton and Ken Turner who requisitioned the matter for tonight's re-examination by the full council.

Cllr Alex Hilton told the Guardian: "It would turn residents' lives upside down. The whole issue has put the local residents under an enormous strain which has been completely unnecessary."