TWO new housing estates look set to be built in Hook.

The planning committee at Hart District Council recommended for approval a plan to build 60 homes at High Ridge Farm, in Newnham Road, and 70 homes at Reading Road.

The plans, submitted by Taylor Wimpey and Bell Cornwell respectively, will go before full council for approval.

Both plans received objections from villagers worried that Hook is growing too fast, and dozens of residents attended the meeting last Wednesday.

Many people have questioned the need for the estates, when land to the north-east of the village has been earmarked for more than 500 homes.

Developers say Hart needs more homes, and the two sites had been previously identified as areas that could take new homes.

John Littlechild, of Ferrell Field, spoke against the High Ridge Farm plan, and Neil Forsyth, of John Morgan Close, spoke against the Reading Road plan.

Councillor Mike Morris, who represents Hook on the district council, said he helped insert a clause in the Reading Road plan to have a safer access point.

But he said councillors had little choice but to approve the plans as Hart’s Local Plan, which earmarks where future development should take place, was rejected by a planning inspector last year.

He said: “I can see the residents’ concerns, but the problem is we have no Local Plan. I’m really hacked off, but all I can do is say to them is that the Local Plan that used to protect is not here any more.”