A DEVELOPER has joined residents in attacking plans for a new suburb on the edge of Winchester.

The proposal for 2,000 homes at Barton Farm has been criticised - but this time by representatives of a company that wants to build a new town at Micheldever Station, less than ten miles up the road.

Eagle Star has harboured ambitions for the hamlet north of Winchester since 1990.

It wants to see 5,000 homes built on rolling chalk downland between Winchester and Basingstoke.

Should Barton Farm be developed then the chances of Micheldever Station ever going ahead are slight.

Its representatives made their case against the rival Barton Farm scheme at the Winchester district local plan inquiry last Thursday.

Matthew Chard, of Barton Willmore planning consultants, speaking for Eagle Star, said Barton Farm was a "green lung" for Winchester. He warned development there would damage the city's historic character.

Gareth Capner, also from Barton Willmore, quoted government targets calling for 92,000 new homes in Hampshire by 2011.

He suggested Barton Farm could not be completed before that deadline.

Mr Capner then urged Winchester City Council to remove Barton Farm's status as a reserve major development area.

Eagle Star intends to make its case next year at a regional inquiry into housing needs across the south-east.

The Micheldever Station plan is opposed by the Dever Society, a group of about 8,300 residents set up in the early 1990s.

Society vice-chairman Tessa Robertson said Eagle Star's opposition to Barton Farm was ironic.

She said that the company's claim that Hampshire needs new homes only seemed to apply when Micheldever Station was discussed, and not other sites.

CALA Homes plans for Barton Farm will go to a public inquiry next spring.