 The government proposes 211,000 new homes |
Plans which could see more than 200,000 new homes built in Beds, Bucks and Northants within 20 years could prove a key issue for voters in the East. All three major parties say they want to protect the environment but also recognise that key workers such as nurses and teachers need to be housed.
Conservatives have criticised the "concreting over" of the countryside.
Labour candidates have hit out at what they see as the Conservatives' "scaremongering humbug".
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.
The areas are Northampton, Luton, Bedford, Milton Keynes, Aylesbury, Kettering, Corby and Wellingborough.
Jane Carr, the Liberal Democrat candidate in Milton Keynes North East, said: "It is a concern that we seem to be creating more roads."
She said there needed to be a greater search for brownfield land to build on.
Damian Collins, the Conservative candidate for Northampton North, said he was concerned the plans could "concrete over the green spaces of Northamptonshire".
He said Tories were particularly concerned about plans to develop a green fields of Dallington Grange, which is part of Earl Spencer's Althorpe Estate.
"I am opposed to Labour's plans. We do not need all of these homes to be built in Northamptonshire, and they would put an impossible strain on our resources," he said.
Labour's Phil Sawford, who held on to the Kettering seat in 2001 with a majority of 1.2%, said opposition was were exaggerating the housing expansion fears.
"We have more chance of drowning under a sea of humbug and hyperbole than under a 'sea of housing'," he said.
Labour candidate for Northampton South Tony Clarke said he had serious concerns about the plans for the extra houses.
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
We have more chance of drowning under a sea of humbug and hyperbole than under a 'sea of housing'
