A DEVELOPMENT plan taking shape for the south-west corner of England is trying to squeeze too much into too little space in Christchurch.

So say borough councillors in their response to the draft blueprint for future housing and economic development across an area from Cornwall to Chewton Bunny.

A special council meeting convened to consider the Christchurch comment to strategy was particularly critical of the proposed level of housebuilding including some 600 new homes in the greenbelt between Burton and Highcliffe.

Members backed a 10-point resolution tabled by planning committee chairman Cllr David Jones opposing the scale of development proposed for the borough. Cllr Jones branded the rate of growth projected for the region as a whole and the south-east Dorset sector in particular as excessive and inappropriate for Christchurch.

And he said the threatened loss of greenbelt around the airport at Hurn was unacceptable.

But the motion also attacked anti-motoring measures mooted in the draft strategy to curb car use and force people to use other forms of transport and called for more to be done to improve the already overstretched local road network and infrastructure.

Councillors also supported their officers' view that a proposed minimum housing density of 30 homes per hectare and even higher in urban areas was too rigid and could destroy the character of Christchurch.

The council also called for clarification over the status of Christchurch, which is not listed with neighbouring Bournemouth and Poole among 21 towns and cities earmarked in the strategy as centres for growth and corresponding improvements in amenities and services.

Elements of the strategy which found favour in the council chamber included commitment to ensuring infrastructure is delivered in step with development, moves to provide more affordable housing, encouraging small businesses and job creation and avoiding building in areas at risk of flooding.

But councillors were annoyed that their comments, along with those from other authorities in the region, will be aired at an inquiry in Exeter next spring and urged that the proposals for the south-east Dorset sub-region should be debated locally.