Hardingstone residents oppose 1,000 houses plan

Plans for 1,000 homes in a village in Northamptonshire are being opposed by residents who say village life would be destroyed.

The proposal for Hardingstone, on the edge of Northampton, was submitted by the Homes and Communities Agency, which funds affordable housing in the UK.

The plans also include new roads, a primary school and a community centre.

People living in the village say wildlife habitats will be lost and traffic will significantly increase.

'Huge congestion'

Gordon Crowe from the Save Hardingstone Group said: "The addition of 1,000 houses is likely to be the addition of 2,000 cars.

"We already suffer from huge congestion, with traffic trying to get on to the the A45 and trying to get access to the M1."

Another villager, Joan Snedker, said the land on which the houses would be built had been used by dog-walkers for years.

"Skylarks nest on this land," she said.

"We've got deer, foxes, badgers, even newts."

In a statement, the Homes and Communities Agency said: " A key objective [of the planning application] is to provide a range of housing to ensure all residents have access to a home that they can afford and that meets their needs, increasing the opportunity for local people to live in the area they grew up in."

Northampton Borough Council said that because of the size and complex nature of the application, no date had yet been set for councillors to make a decision.