A LEADING Conservative councillor pressed Eastleigh Borough Council to have second thoughts about its local plan review, which has sparked a row with the county council.

At this week's Borough Council meeting, Colin Davidovitz urged the Liberal Democrats, who run Eastleigh council, to withdraw the plan, which the county council has refused to endorse.

Mr Davidovitz said the county's refusal was not prompted by Eastleigh's deletion of the Allington major development area (MDA).

"The reason why it was not given a certificate of conformity was that it fell short of the number of houses the plan should have included by 3,000 houses," he said.

He also claimed proposed development on brown- field sites was not supported with sufficient detail about infrastructure to convince the strategic planning authority that it was viable.

Council leader Keith House accused Mr Davidovitz of supporting an MDA in Eastleigh.

"The last thing we want is to conform to the Structure Plan that would block investment in our town centre and would encourage sprawl across our countryside," he said, claiming that the Eastleigh plan met the requirements of the latest government planning guidance document by identifying development sites on a five-year basis.

He said he welcomed the fact that Eastleigh would be going into the inquiry arguing forcefully about getting investment in its town centre at sites like Pirelli. Conservative group leader Godfrey Olson accused the council of a U-turn, which included new development proposals at Dowd's Farm, Hedge End.

"It was not long ago that we were hell-bent on an MDA at Allington," he said.

"At the time there was supposed to be no development at Hedge End, but now a U-turn has been done at Allington and Dowd's Farm and the public don't know where they are."

Mr Davidovitz repeated his criticisms in a statement after the meeting.

"Because of my opposition to his hastily-revised Local Plan, the Liberal Democrat leader wrongly accuses me of supporting the notion of a major development area in the borough," he said.

"Unlike him, I have not supported a major development area in the borough. I do not believe that we have the space or the infrastructure to support it.

"Hampshire County Council planners accepted my argument that, to conform, a plan did not need to contain a major development area, providing it allocated sites for a sufficient number of dwellings.

"This, his revised plan plainly fails to do.

"It falls short by a figure of 3,000.

This is the reason the planning authority gave for rejecting the Eastleigh plan."

Mr Davidovitz added: "For the sake of the residents of the borough he should now act responsibly to protect the borough's greenfields by withdrawing this plan and should instruct Eastleigh's planners to produce an acceptable alternative."