Government plans for tens of thousands of new houses across the south east of England every year have been denounced by angry local authorities.

The draft regional planning guidance, unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in the House of Commons in March, set a building target of 43,000 extra homes annually between 1996 and 2016, resulting in 4,000 more houses being built a year than at present.

But earlier this week the South East Region Planning Authorities (Serplan) - which represents all 138 local authorities in the region - voted to oppose the Government's stance and continue pushing its own vision, which demands the construction of 10,000 fewer homes a year.

Ongar county councillor Gerard McEwen, who represented Essex at last week's Serplan meeting in Westminster, said: We must unite in our defence of the south east because no-one else will do it for us.

"That's not party politics, nor can it be called nimbyism - it's just plain common sense and its what our electors from all parties want.

"Just because the Government has said it doesn't agree with us and will ignore our protests that is no reason for us to say that we will shut up.

"Our central argument is that there is too much pressure on the south east and we must not compromise."

Serplan's tough stance has been applauded by Lord Hanningfield, leader of Essex County Council, who commented: "Housebuilding on the scale proposed by the Government would mean vast tracts of green land being lost forever as an army of bulldozers swept across Essex and the south east of England.

"It would also place an intolerable strain on the region's infrastructure, which in many places is already creaking under the weight of the demands being placed on it.

"Serplan spent two years formulating its proposals, and it is simply not acceptable for John Prescott to come along and try to ride roughshod over the views of local people."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.