The council is warning that it will have to limit access to a public meeting with large number of people expected to attend.

The move is being put down to "safety reasons" and "to help all those attending feel safer".

Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council's economic, planning and housing committee is set to debate where future housing developments could go.

It will see councillors discuss large prospective housing projects such as Manydown South and Upper Swallick, before coming up with recommendations to the authority's cabinet.

Residents and councillors are also planning to gather outside the council's offices before the meeting to protest against rising number of housing planned for the town, and that the right infrastructure is not following suit.

But ahead of tomorrow's meeting, Basingstoke council has warned it may have to limit access to the council offices.

Taking to Twitter, a spokesperson for BDBC said: "We are anticipating high levels of interest in tomorrow's Economic, Planning and Housing Committee.

"To help all those attending feel safer under social distancing, we are limiting the numbers in the committee room and reception area, primarily to those registered to speak at the meeting.

"We may have to restrict access to the council offices for safety reasons in the case of large numbers of people wanting to attend.

"Therefore, we are encouraging people who want to watch the debate to do this on the website where the meeting will be webcast live, or through YouTube, where it will be running at the same time."

The vast majority of council meetings are open to the public, and attendance is only banned under a certain set of regulations.