CAMPAIGNERS are renewing calls to scrap an eco-town, fearing that it would virtually join Wickham to Fareham.

Council chiefs in Fareham unveiled the proposals earlier this year, but Westminster has now scrapped regional planning targets.

As a result, council bosses in Eastleigh have shelved plans to expand Hedge End by 6,000 homes.

The extension would have seen homes being built right up to the boundary of the Winchester district.

The same applies in Fareham, but the plan for 7,000 to 8,000 homes between Wickham, Knowle and Fareham is still active.

Civic chiefs in Winchester have already expressed concerns about possibly losing much of the countryside south of Wickham.

A federation of groups opposing the plan have now laid their concerns at the door of Fareham council bosses.

One of the leaders of the protest – dubbed South Hampshire’s Unheard Voices (SHUV) – is the Campaign to Protect Rural England.

Its representative, Caroline Dibden, said the new town in the North Fareham Strategic Development Area would be the same size as Petersfield.

She said: “It is clear that there was dubious support for these new towns, but the public were always told that these numbers were forced from on high.”

However, now that regional targets are no more, she said the local authority could scrap the idea.

“If the SDA went ahead, it would be solely Fareham Borough Council’s decision and they could not pass the buck,” she added.

Brenda Clapperton of the Fareham Society, which is in SHUV, said: “We were always against this huge development in the north of Fareham which is well in excess of Fareham’s local needs, and will have a major effect on the environment of Wickham and Fareham itself.”

If new housing is essential, it should be on brownfield sites and not in the open countryside, SHUV argues.

Fareham Borough Council this week repeated its stance that building the new town north of junctions 10 and 11 of the M27 is a good idea.

A spokesman for the authority said it was still their intention to proceed with the SDA.

If built, 40 per cent of the eco-town would be green space and the homes would be as environmentally friendly as possible.

It would also aim to have ‘zero carbon status’, meaning that carbon dioxide emissions must be offset by local green energy production.

If the eco-town goes ahead, building work could start in 2016 and take a decade to complete.