ENVIRONMENTAL campaigers say a council’s housing policy could damage the countryside forever.

Vale of White Horse District Council is consulting on plans to catch up on its housing targets by allowing about 800 homes to be built on small housing developments in villages.

But the Oxfordshire branch of the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) says it will make communities vulnerable to hasty and poorly planned developments.

Director Helen Marshall said: “We are concerned that this policy is based on a first-come, first-served approach, rather than a proper exercise which identifies the best sites.

“Up and down the country, the likelihood of meeting building targets has decreased because developers are finding it difficult to raise capital.

“Any policy that proposes a quick fix and temporary ‘solution’, and one dependent on permanently damaging our countryside, has to be strongly resisted.”