Families are at war with a football club over a playing field which is at risk of being built on.

Wickford Town Youth Football Club wants to sell the three-acre field backing onto Vista Road, Wickford.

However, residents are arguing the land was left in trust to the young people of the town by former landowner and Conservative MP for Sudbury, Colonel Henry Walter Burton after his death in 1947.

Martin Grant Homes has now applied to Basildon Council for permission to build 50 homes on the site owned by the club.

Although Essex County Council was unable to confirm whether the land was left in trust by the MP, residents believe it is protected from development.

Gordon Bradley, 70, of Vista Road, said: "My children and grandchildren have all played on the field.

"It was left to the children and should never be built on. As far as we understand, the colonel left the land to the children of Wickford."

Caroline Healy, 29, also from Vista Road, who has a daughter, nine, and a one-year-old son, said: "The main reason I moved here was because of the field.

"I liked the idea of my children being able to play out whenever they wanted. It should be left as it is."

Another neighbour, Sally Meade, 43, who has 11, 12 and 14 year-old sons, said: "My boys are always out there kicking a ball about. There isn't enough open space in Wickford as it is. This must be stopped."

As part of the agreement to sell the playing field, a separate application has also been lodged to redevelop green belt land at Shotgate Farm, Wickford, into new football pitches, car parking and a pavilion for the football club.

Tony Silk, chairman of Wickford Town Youth Football Club, said: "We now have 28 football teams, from a team of five-year-olds to veterans, and our current pitch is nowhere near big enough. We desperately need the new facilities.

"All the money we make from the development would be invested back into the club."

Residents, who are putting together a petition against building on the field, are angry they were only told about the application on January 10 and given just three weeks to comment before the public consultation process closes tomorrow.

It is understood the pitch fell into the possession of Essex County Council in the late 1950s.

The county council then sold it to Wickford Town Youth Football Club in 2000.

The county council was unable to comment on the trust claims, other than to confirm it is searching for the original trust documents signed by Colonel Burton, to check if it had the right to sell the field to the football club.

The colonel was a member of the Wickford Masonic Lodge and also Provincial Officer in Essex.