Protesters from the Fight 4 Four Marks group are fearing for the village following a meeting of Four Marks Parish Council’s planning committee on May 7.

The main items up for discussion at Four Marks Village Hall were proposals for 115 houses off Barn Lane and 100 homes between Blackberry Lane and Alton Lane.

Fight 4 Four Marks members attended the meeting along with more than 30 concerned residents and as many as possible spoke within the 15 minutes allowed by the chairman for comments from the public.

The committee decided to maintain its “strong objections” to the Blackberry Lane plan but to talk to the developer about potential infrastructure improvements in exchange for not objecting to the Barn Lane proposal.

Dr Arthur Barlow, who is the chair of Fight 4 Four Marks, said the public were left “stunned and silent” at the outcome.

The Four Marks Parish Council website indicated that the meeting had been scheduled to run from 5pm to 6.30pm but the whole agenda was dealt with in a shade over half an hour.

Dr Barlow felt the big issues received only a “cursory discussion” which was not carried out in a way that was easy for residents to understand.

He added: “Residents were dealt a bitter blow in their quest to have Four Marks retain its rural character, charming leafy lanes and meadows, which from the A31 go unnoticed.”

Fight 4 Four Marks calculated that if all the planning applications for housing in Four Marks over the last 20 months are approved, the number of houses in the village will increase by 25 per cent.

Houses proposed or approved are 35 behind 103 Blackberry Lane, 115 adjacent to Barn Lane, south of Winchester Road, 100 between Alton Lane and Blackberry Lane, 65 behind 87 Lymington Bottom, 100 at the bottom of Alton Lane, 60 behind 46 Lymington Bottom and 13 at the top of Alton Lane - a total of 488.

Dr Barlow said: “This order of potential expansion requires proper planning, something that East Hampshire District Council planners well realise.

“Yet Four Marks is being presented with the threat of unplanned development on a huge scale with no vital elements in place: no co-ordinated approach, no phasing, no analysis of the village infrastructure, no spatial plan and no formal dialogue between East Hampshire District Council and the residents who will potentially be affected - which is all of us.

“The fact that Four Marks Parish Council seems unable to contribute to this debate is disappointing. East Hampshire District Council have a choice. If they are planning to allow these speculative sites to go forward, they will need to show that the new homes will be in a sustainable location and the adverse impacts of development will not significantly and demonstrably outweigh the benefits when assessed against the national planning policy framework.

“For that, they will need to have a masterplan and show greater resolve to stand up for their residents and the places where they live.”