A FULL survey of the land at East Anton will be undertaken before the area is earmarked for housing in the local plan, Test Valley Borough Councillors agreed when they met in Andover recently.

Development of the area has been suggested by the Borough Council in a discussion document which outlines where the town could put new housing over the 10 years between 2001 and 2011.

But Cllr Garry Rankin-Moore, speaking at the full council meeting, believes the proposal could have serious detrimental effects if it goes wrong because the area is at the source of the River Anton.

"There should be no development until there has been a full investigation by the Environment Agency - not the developers," he said.

"If we get this wrong we could be condemning this town to standpipes. The Environment Agency has already stated it would prefer if there was no development there."

But officers maintained any potential problems that might be caused by the development could be overcome by engineering works.

Madeline Winter, director of planning, said: "The Environment Agency says there is no reason to not allocate the land in principle for housing allocation but before it can be included in the deposit plan more work will be undertaken in detail."

Mr Rankin-Moore, said the land and its springs formed the source of the Anton - a river that contains fresh water crayfish. The land there is better quality than some alternative development sites and is on the edge of an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

As one of four 'Major Devel-opment Areas' in Hampshire Andover has to find space for 3,000 extra houses. The borough council expects that 2,400 of these will be built on three major sites at East Anton/Finkley Down, Picket Twenty and Winchester Road.