PROTESTERS blew air horns, chanted and waved placards as they marched against plans for a new 6,000-home town in Hampshire.

More than a hundred campaigners belted out slogans in opposition to the Welborne plan, which would involve the creation of a new community near Fareham.

They rallied at Ferneham Hall before marching on Fareham Borough Council offices for the beginning of an independent public examination of the project.

Outside the building, community group leaders gave angry speeches from a soapbox to raucous applause, slamming the council for a perceived lack of interaction.

Inspector David Hogger is leading an inquiry into the plans for land north of the M27, which would include nearly 100,000sq metres of shops, four new schools, 6,000 homes and a new motorway junction.

He was greeted with cheers and he thanked campaigners for turning up.

Speaking to the Daily Echo protest organiser Jason Mudge said: “The turnout shows the strength of feeling against this monstrous de-velopment.

“We wanted to bring people from community groups together and make a bit of noise because we don’t feel consulted and Fareham council has ignored us. We feel if it goes on it’s going to be a disaster for Fareham.”

Campaigner Shaun Cunn-ingham delivered an impassioned speech to the crowd, criticising the council for beginning “a storyline Harry Potter would be proud of”.

The Welborne plan began its life nine years ago. Camp-aigners argue that it would damage Fareham as well as bring an increased risk of flooding and ruin suitable farming land.

The public gallery was full as the hot-tempered meeting began, with some people forced to sit in an adjoining room to hear the debate.

Speakers were occasionally heckled and statements by councillors were met with loud, sarcastic applause from those in the gallery, prompting Mr Hogger to ask the crowd for quiet.

Representatives from Fare-ham Borough Council, Buckland Development Ltd, Wickham Society, Winchest-er City Council and Wallington Village Comm-unity Association are taking part in the examination.

Peter Home, a planning consultant speaking on behalf of Fareham Borough Council, was asked why the number of houses – originally suggested to be more than 7,000 – had been lowered.

He said: “The number of homes in the Welborne plan is evidence-based and we noted that there was a lot of work needed to determine the precise numbers.

“The reduction in housing numbers and changes to the approach were based on the evidence that has been available at the time.”

Michael Carter, representing the Wickham Society, said: “This whole development is based on a lack of hard data and there’s no evidence of people having gathered or measured things.

“The thing that worries me is that the Environment Agency admitted that there’s a lack of hard data supporting the sustainability appraisal and there’s a lack of hard data supporting the Welborne plan.”

The public examination will last for six days and today covers the boundary of the town, what constraints there would be on development, the density of housing within the proposed settlement and noise and light pollution.

TIMELINE

2015-2019: Initial site preparation, work mostly focused on areas around the A32, including beginning of community centre.

2019-2022: Main building work. M27 junction upgrade and main primary school followed by construction north and south of Knowle Road. A green corridor, main food shop and main car park developed.

2022-2026: Construction of secondary school, health centre and park. New north to south road parallel with A32 complet-ed and employment areas built.

2026-2030: Considerable development to the west of about 4,000 homes. Third primary school and community playing pitches built.

2030-2036: Areas for employ- ment ongoing, 6,000 homes built