Residents set to fight plans for 700 homes
Neighbours say they are ready for a fight over proposals to build hundreds of new homes on their doorstep.
People living in Emsworth say they will oppose a plan to build 700 new homes in the village over the next two decades.
They are angry as up to 90 per cent of those new homes could be on green spaces.
The vow comes as Havant Borough Council has forged ahead with proposals to build 6,300 new homes in the borough to meet government house building targets.
The council's executive voted at a meeting on Wednesday to put out the report for public consultation in June.
Residents say they are going to make their views known during the six-week consultation.
Pene Salter, of Birch Tree Drive, Emsworth, a member of Emsworth Residents' Association, said: 'We are not going down without a fight.
'This is just urban sprawl and we seem to be spreading concrete across the whole of the region.
'We should be looking at refurbishing empty homes, rather than building out.
'These fields are our green lungs and I just think it's criminal to build on them.'
The council has not confirmed any sites in Emsworth that could be developed in the new report, although other sites, such as Woodcroft Farm in Waterlooville and Hayling Island seafront have been confirmed as 'strategic' sites for development.
But last year, as part of an earlier council report, possible sites for development were 280 homes in the Emsworth Gap, which is farmland between the village and Westbourne, 227 homes to the west and east of Horndean Road and 123 dwellings at Horse Field, south of the A259 in Emsworth.
Council leader Tony Briggs said all councils had a statutory duty to produce house building targets.
He said: 'These are the numbers we have to provide between now and 2026.
'But we have always said the infrastructure has to be in place before these properties are built.'
Asked whether the targets could be met, he added: 'In the present economic climate, that is extremely doubtful.
'It's quite clear the housing numbers that have been allocated across the country are not going to be achieved in the present economic climate.'
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