Public meetings to scrutinise plans to build 50,000 new homes in Norwich and surrounding areas over the next 16 years have heard claims that local voices are being ignored.

Parish councils have expressed fears that the proposals are being imposed on communities, and raised concerns that the impact of the developments on local roads could be "dangerous".

The claims were made at the start of a series of hearings to assess the 'Greater Norwich Local Plan', which will govern how the city and its suburbs grow over the coming years.

The hearings are intended to help shape the plan, by settling which areas in Norwich, South Norfolk and Broadland council areas are most appropriate for development. In total, some 50,000 homes are planned between now and 2038.

At the first hearing, concerns were raised about the extent that the Greater Norwich Local Plan partnership - which includes Norwich, South Norfolk, Broadland and Norfolk councils - was cooperating with smaller organisations involved.

Trevor Wang from Cringleford Parish Council criticised the partnership for failing to properly take into account the village's own local plan, saying it appeared to have been looked at in a "tick box fashion".

Mr Wang said the GNLP would see 1,710 built in Cringleford, 42pc more than the parish council's plan says the area can take.

He said: "By not engaging with us, their consultations have been inaccurate and dangerously ambiguous as you can see from the sum of the submissions from developers which would open the flood gates for developments in Cringleford. We feel it is unsound."

Alison Doe, town clerk at Hingham Town Council, said it had "huge concerns" about the 500 homes allocated for the area and the impact it would have on the roads.

"The GNLP have not considered the growth that has been going on in the areas around us," she said.

"The road safety situation is dangerous and appalling and there's been no commitment to look into that."

GNLP representatives defended the extent of its local cooperation, with Simon Bird QC saying neither the parish nor town councils were 'prescribed bodies' that the government requires the partnership to cooperate with.

Mike Burrell from the GNLP added that Cringleford council had not contacted the partnership asking for a meeting to raise their concerns.

Mike Worden, a government's planning inspector overseeing the hearing, added that some of the issues raised related to site-specific concerns which would be addressed in future meetings.

Mike Carpenter, representing Drayton and RG Carter farms, also criticised the GNLP for not consulting on public open space.

Graham Nelson, executive director of development and city services at Norwich City Council said there was a track record of the partnership investing in infrastructure through community infrastructure levy pooling - a charge on home building - including investment for a country park north of Norwich.

Local plans are supposed to ensure homes are supported by the necessary infrastructure and make it more likely that planning applications in those places would be approved.

Meetings will be held over the following fortnight, with further hearings in March.