Countryside campaigners are opposing the introduction of housing targets in St Albans, which they believe are based on a "flawed interpretation" of national policy.
CPRE Hertfordshire believes St Albans District Council’s strategic local plan is threatening swathes of Green Belt land.
St Albans District Council has just finished consulting on a draft local plan, which would set out overarching policies and principles for what can be built and where over the long term.
The district’s housing need is forecast to be 8,720 new homes for the 20-year period until 2031.
Evidence is provided for various tracts of land including 2,500 homes at the western most part of the district, to the west of the M1, next to Hemel Hempstead, 1,000 homes to the east of St Albans on land at Oaklands College and 500 homes to the north west of Harpenden.
CPRE director, Kevin FitzGerald, said: "By pressing ahead with proposals based solely on their estimate of housing demand, the council are putting at risk the efforts of generations of their predecessors to protect the district’s countryside, unnecessarily threatening the Green Belt.
"The Green Belt has helped protect the character of St Albans, Harpenden and the district’s villages for over half a century.
"The draft Plan’s proposed Housing target is fundamentally flawed and threatens permanent loss of large areas of countryside."
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