A PARISH council chairman has vowed to fight “tooth and nail” against mass development following the publication of a brochure detailing plans to build up to 5,000 homes in Winchfield.

Barratt Homes has produced a 32-page “vision document” for what it calls Winchfield Garden Community.

The publication came as Cabinet members at Hart District Council discussed their preferred strategy for housing last Thursday, which includes a recommendation for a new settlement at Winchfield.

Developers have long seen the village as an attractive place to build new homes, with its good links to London via the M3 and its railway station.

But Andrew Renshaw, chairman of Winchfield Parish Council, said: “It is not just Winchfield – it would be the death of Hart as a rural district. The impact on all the surrounding communities would be massive.

“There’s not one mention about what it would be like for people living here on a building site for the next 10 to 15 years.”

Councillor Renshaw, whose 45-acre farm is not included in the plan, said he would be “bloody-minded” in fighting it “tooth and nail”, and said Hart would be “firing the starting gun” on Barratt Homes’ plan if they agree to look at building a new settlement at Winchfield.

Barratt said its vision takes inspiration from the principles of the garden city movement, which saw new towns built in the UK in the 20th Century.

The document, available to download on Hart’s website, states work could start within two years and would provide “much needed housing and supporting infrastructure” within the district.

It reads: “Winchfield Garden Community would comprise 4,000-5,000 new homes delivered in the form of a series of “garden neighbourhoods” over a 15-20 year period.

“It would provide a full range of necessary facilities and infrastructure to support a large-scale community that smaller developments would be unable to deliver in isolation.”

The development would include three primary schools, one secondary school, a “market centre” and two new roundabouts on the B3016.

Meanwhile, the Campaign to Protect Rural England has told Hart it should think again about its housing options, saying the worst option is the possibility of building a new town.

Edward Dawson, north east Hampshire spokesman, said: “There are no sites in our district large enough to take a new town, and this would be the most divisive of all the options.”