October 6th 1999: Winchester Labour councillors have branded plans for a huge housing estate north of Winchester as "vague, ill-considered and unjustified".

Councillor Patrick Davies attacked Hampshire County Council for earmarking "north Winchester" as a reserve site for 2,000 houses in the structure plan from 2001-2011.

Local people fear that Barton Farm, open countryside between Harestock and Abbotts Barton, will be targeted.

The area is owned by Winchester College, which is prepared to sell it to a housing developer.

Mr Davies said the new estate would cause havoc. "There would be appalling traffic chaos and irreparable damage to the setting of Winchester. The last thing Winchester needs is more four- and five-bedroom houses for new London commuters.''

He added: "This whole ghastly prospect results from the madcap notion - put forward without evidence at all - by the panel at the examination in public that new housing adjoining Winchester would somehow reduce the amount of commuting."

Mr Davies said the setting of Winchester was due to how the countryside relates to the city. He said it was ironic that the county council should promote this "lingering threat" in the same week the government had made the South Downs, a national park.

However the county council say 'north Winchester' has only been earmarked because the Labour government insisted that Hampshire has reserve sites for 14,000 new houses instead of the 10,000 envisaged by the council.