LINDFORD residents are being urged to form an action group to oppose a large housing development being built the village.
Lindford Parish Council has organised a public meeting at the village working menÕs club on February 3 to encourage residents to take and active role and has postponed its own meeting to enable councillors to be present.
The moves comes as East Hampshire District Council tries to increase the allocation of houses it envisages will be built at the bottom of Chase Road, from 100 to 165, in the wake of interest from the developer Charles Church.
Chairman Ian Skelton-Smith said: ÒWe would like to encourage some kind of organisation to be set up to act as a pressure group against the Charles Church development. This group would act to demonstrate the strength of local feeling.Ó
Planning chairman Eric Birkett said that the club was allowing its premises to be used because of the importance of the issue.
ÒI hope that we will have a lot of people there,Ó he said. ÒIf we donÕt try, it will show that the interest in the village is dead.Ó
Mr Skelton-Smith said any new pressure group should be independent of the parish council to ensure that the village had two voices fighting its corner.
ÒWe need to know that people in the village will do something about it and not just sit back and let us fight it.
ÒIt should be a group to campaign and raise money for a campaign. I hope that people are willing to get involved.
ÒI fear that people have forgotten about this because it has gone on for so long.Ó
The meeting takes place at Lindford Working MenÕs Club on February 3 at 8 pm.