Tough new rules on affordable housing should provoke anger among property developers, a Winchester City Council planner has warned.

Labour leader, Patrick Davies, said the high level of objection to the council's proposed building criteria was "only a taste of what we're going to hear at the public inquiry".

His comments came at a meeting this week to discuss the housing section of the district local plan draft.

The council says that unless it asks property developers to include at least 35% affordable housing in their plans, targets will not be met.

Nine hundred affordable homes need to be built in the district in the next 10 years. But if the council sticks to current figures, for 30% affordable housing on a site, fewer than 200 subsidised homes will be built.

The draft plan also proposes that the requirement to include affordable housing be triggered sooner.

Previously, developers could build 15 houses without including affordable homes; now that number has been reduced to five. Some councillors even wanted it dropped further, to three.

Charlotte Bailey said the council should be "tough" in order to meet the affordable housing targets.

But chairman, Ian Bidgood, said there was a "sort of blackmail issue" with developers, which meant they would not go ahead with developments which were not commercially profitable.

"They wait until they can sell the land for more money and then we don't get any affordable housing," he said.

Around 30 property companies, including Cala Homes, Linden Homes and Braemore Developments, objected to the new rules. It is likely they will make strong representations at the local plan public inquiry, scheduled for spring next year.

Mr Davies added: "This is what we can expect. We have to be fairly clear what we are putting forward can be justified."

The affordable housing criteria set out in the plan was approved unanimously by the committee.