CONSERVATIONISTS and planners are gearing up for the biggest housing battle to threaten Hampshire this century.

Within just two weeks of reaching an agreement on the number of new homes to be built in the county, the three major planning authorities have been clobbered by a bombshell that has left them dumbfounded.

The county council and Southamp-ton and Portsmouth city councils have agreed on 42,000 new homes for Hampshire up to 2011, with a further 14,000 in reserve if they are needed.

But following a public examination into draft regional planning guidance, a government-appointed panel has now come up with the recommendation that 169,000 new homes should be built up to the year 2016.

Planning chiefs and countryside campaigners have warned that precious, major greenfield sites across Hampshire will be swallowed up by developers and lost for ever if the threat becomes a reality.

Over the past decade an average 5,700 homes have been built in the county every year. This figure would rise to 8,450 a year if Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, accepts the recommendations of the panel.

Many local politicians and conservationists have warned that the proposals would drive even more people into Hampshire to live, causing the drift from the North to the South to continue.

Dudley Keep, chairman of the county council's planning and transportation committee, has warned that housing development, on the scale suggested by the panel, could have a devastating effect on Hampshire's infrastructure.

"Congestion is certainly one of the things we will be thumping the table on," he pledged.

The Hampshire Greenfield Alliance which is "appalled" by the report claims 169,000 new homes is way beyond the number of homes required in the county to meet the needs of local people.

"We believe Hampshire has to start looking at the causes of in-migration and we think one of those reasons is the over-supply of business land that is now available throughout the county," said secretary John Moon.

"Population flows are driven by employment and this is a problem Hampshire has to start addressing," he added.

Mike Roberts, planning spokesman for the county council's Labour group, said everyone in the United Kingdom must be involved in tough battle ahead to find solutions to the housing problem - not only in Hampshire but across the country.

He stressed that Hampshire's immediate priority was to get its draft structure plan, which proposes 56,000 new homes up to 2011, adopted.

This would enable local councils to defend sensitive areas potentially under threat from developers. He said: "However, over the next few months a much bigger battle will be going to the root of demographic drift and housing need within the South East, following the publication of the "wise men" report from the panel.

"That report has suggested a marked increase in housing projections for the South-East in general, Hampshire in particular, beyond the framework of current regional advice.

"I will be discussing in detail, where it matters, the national context within which that report now needs to be debated," he added.

"There is a tough road ahead, but all parts of the UK will need to be involved in finding solutions."

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