Ministers want to see around 100,000 new homes built in the county by 2021.

Kettering MP Philip Hollobone, leading a special debate in the House of Commons, said many residents were far from happy with the idea.

Wellingborough MP Peter Bone said unless schools, hospitals, policing and other services were improved, any expansion would cause problems.

I have to say that expansion on this scale is being widely opposed in the constituency of Kettering as too great and too rapid Kettering MP Philip Hollobone

Mr Hollobone said the rate of expansion was much greater than that contained in the democratically arrived-at 1996 Northamptonshire County Counicl structure plan "which has now been effectively consigned to the dustbin of history".

"I have to say that expansion on this scale is being widely opposed in the constituency of Kettering as too great and too rapid," he said.

Mr Hollobone went on to say local politicians and development agencies were trying to make the expansion work to the benefit of the county.

But he said conflicting policies coming out of various government departments could stall the development.

In reply, Local Government Minister Phil Woolas said there had already been investment in the infrastructure of the county, including new bus routes linking Kettering to nearby towns and government funding for the North Northants Together organisation.

But he said he would be happy to give the MPs more information at a later date.

"It is important to the government and the constituents that we get this right," he added.

Growth towns

The government has proposed that between 2005 and 2021 more than 211,000 new homes may be needed for the area.

The strategy highlights the need for adequate infrastructure for transport, health and education to support them.

The strategy proposes concentrating additional high-density housing growth into eight growth towns to avoid wasteful suburban sprawl and tackle housing shortages.