Earl Spencer has an estate in Northamptonshire

Developers also plan to build two schools, a shopping complex and commercial facilities at Dallington Grange in Northampton.

A spokesman for Northampton Borough Council - who own a third of the land - said they opposed the plans four years ago and nothing has changed.

The scheme is being reconsidered due to government demands for 55,000 new homes in the county.

Public Consultation

A public examination of the so-called Milton Keynes/South Midlands Study is currently being carried-out.

Planning consultant Gareth Capner, who represents the builders' consortium, said the estate had already struck a deal with building companies Westbury Homes, Persimmon Homes and David Wilson Homes.

He said: "The proposals are on the current adopted local plan for Northampton and have been recovered as part of the Milton Keynes study.

"The Althorp estate currently owns two thirds of the land but the builders' consortium has the option to buy it.

"I would hope the proposals would get the go-ahead but planning discussion can take a long time."

We debated the issue long and hard four years ago and did not support the development at that time and to my mind nothing has changed since Phil Larratt Northampton Borough

But Northampton Borough Council leader Councillor Phil Larratt said: "We debated the issue long and hard four years ago and did not support the development at that time and to my mind nothing has changed since.

"I suppose developers still see it as an area that is ripe for development.

It's a significant site and if the public examination considers the site for development then we will have to deal with the issue at that time."