A public inquiry will decide whether an area of land should be kept as open space or zoned for housing.

Winchester City Council is managing the project for a major development area west of Waterlooville, a small part of which comes under Havant Borough Council which wants to keep it as a park.

A spokesman for Winchester City Council, which is managing the project, denied that the two authorities were at loggerheads.

"We have no real objection to Havant's proposal but we say that such provision should be looked at as part of the overall development and not in isolation.

"Under the present process, we can only register our view by putting in an objection to a local inspector."

A Havant Borough Council spokesman said: "This issue appears in the local plan, which has been through a number of consultation processes. The last is a public inquiry that starts on November 12th. Any issues such as this will be settled at that inquiry."

In the coming weeks, meetings in Denmead, Havant and Waterlooville, will canvass views on four options for the development area.