A POLITICAL row over the green areas of Eastleigh is brewing as the campaign to fight off thousands of planned homes continues to gather strength.

A major threat of substantial housing development is hanging over the town's greenfield sites but rival political parties are claiming only they can save Eastleigh's unspoilt areas.

Lib Dem MP David Chidgey has met up with local Borough Council leader Keith House to praise civic attempts to fight off development on green land.

The Lib Dems' latest newsletter is claiming victory for the party in saving all such sites in the borough - despite the council's decision to earmark land at Allington Lane for up to 4,000 homes.

They say they were forced to designate the site for future housing by the planning requirement placed on the borough by Conservative-controlled Hamp-shire County Council.

But local Tories have blasted their rivals for trying to appear greener than they are.

They have hit out at their opposite numbers for failing to distribute the homes throughout the borough's brownfield sites and for planning for a higher number than necessary.

They claim that their colleagues at county level did their bit for the future safekeeping of the borough's green havens by negotiating with the government to reduce the number of houses required.

In the latest round in this war of words, councillor Neil Cummins has called for a list of all the councillors who voted in favour of the Allington development to be made public.

He said: "This is a very wicked thing the Lib Dems are doing. They are telling local residents one thing but in the council chamber doing the complete opposite.

"I have written to Eastleigh Borough Council to get a list of all the councillors and from which party that voted for the development. Hopefully, this will show the public the falsehoods contained in the Lib Dem literature."

Mr House is adamant that the borough council is continuing the fight against development by urging county and government chiefs to axe plans for a major development area in Eastleigh.

He added: "The borough council has been able to show that all new development needed in the next ten years can be accommodated on town sites like that at Pirelli in the centre of Eastleigh.

"We have proved that development need not be on greenfields. It is time for the county council to think again."