CAMPAIGNERS fear hundreds of “unwanted” new homes could be built in Hampshire after a Government planning inspector threw out a council’s development blueprint.

Eastleigh Borough Council’s Local Plan, which outlines where new homes should be built over the next 15 years, was rejected because civic chiefs had not planned for enough affordable homes.

It is now feared the lack of a plan means developers could put in “hostile” plans for huge new housing developments which the council may now be unable to reject.

It has also thrown existing plans for new homes into turmoil, after the council was forced to delay decisions on them in the wake of the inspector’s decision.

Ironically the council itself has been accused of pushing ahead with unsuitable housing developments Campaigners against plans to build 1,400 homes at Boorley Green, near Botley, lost the latest round of their fight after a High Court judge backed council chiefs who had approved the proposals.

The plans brought hundreds of protesters out on to the streets of Botley for a demonstration last year.

In his report, Government inspector Simon Emerson recommended that the Local Plan be suspended due to a lack of affordable homes and said that the council needs to undertake “significant” extra work.

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Liberal Democrat council leader Cllr Keith House, pictured, said he was concerned, and thought that the inspector was “making up national planning policy on the hoof”.

He added: “It’s worrying that the inspector requires us to plan for probably 1,000 more homes over the life of the plan and to increase our housing supply by providing at least 800 of these homes over the next five years.”

The council last night voted to write to Housing and Planning Minister Greg Clark expressing “concern” at the inspector’s decision, and asking for further clarity about exactly what it means for the Local Plan.

Depending on the response, council chiefs may either plough on with the plan or be forced to start again.

The fall-out from the setback is being felt already on development sites in the borough.

Hearings for individual sites in the Local Plan meant to take place in January have already been cancelled by the inspector “to avoid wasteful expense for the council”, putting the plan even further behind schedule.

Plans for 335 homes at Bubb Lane that were due to be decided on by councillors at a recent meeting were postponed until a policy can be put in place to respond to the inspector’s comments.

There are fears that existing applications for housing developments could now have extra homes added to them.

Conservative opposition leader Cllr Godfrey Olson said that the situation was “very serious” and “damaging” for the council, adding that without an approved Local Plan developers could put in hostile applications that might end up approved on appeal.

He said: “We’re in danger of losing even more green space and creating greater problems for Eastleigh when you see the problems we already have, like traffic and infrastructure.

“There is the uncertainty, there are all the costs because this will be a costly procedure, and in the meantime we have developers getting planning permissions in unacceptable places.”

Mark Latham, Eastleigh Labour parliamentary candidate, described the situation as a “disaster” that could mean developers could avoid paying for extra facilities in the borough.

He said: “We don’t get the roundabouts we need, we don’t get the classrooms and [doctors] surgeries.

“Their failure to get the Local Plan in place will mean development on the cheap.”

Martin Lyon, UKIP’s county council spokesman, who represents Bishopstoke, Fair Oak and Horton Heath, said he believed that the original number of homes proposed by the council was way too high anyway.

He said: “We do need to replenish the housing stock and build new homes.

“We recognise that, but the point is not to the level that’s being demanded by the coalition Government.

“The coalition Government has given to the borough of Eastleigh a problem it should never have had.”

Sue Grinham, chairman of Botley Parish Action Group, which fought the Boorley Green plans, said: “The whole borough is now exposed to hostile developments.

“We need houses for our children and people need houses, but we need the right levels of density, and the right places and a coherent infrastructure.

“The borough council has failed the people it has been appointed to serve.”