Villagers are set to march on developers using wheelbarrows to carry complaints against plans to build 18,000 homes.
The Quinton Action Group is looking to get tractors and wheelbarrows full of questionnaires airing their views against the West Northamptonshire Emergent Joint Core Strategy.
They will leave Becket’s Park on Tuesday, September 29 to deliver their responses by dumping them on the doorstep of the West Northamptonshire Joint Planning Unit (WNJPU), at Cliftonville House on Bedford Road.
Nola Collyer, a member of the Quinton Action Group, has lived in the village for more than 25 years.
She said: “We are a village quite typical in Northamptonshire. We do not have a shop, we do not have a pub.
“We are speaking for all villages in Northamptonshire, not just Quinton. We believe that if they want to expand, they should be looking at Northampton town centre and brownfield sites.
“They are trying to build 18,000 homes, but there are no plans for infrastructure, they plan to build on a flood area and the land is very good agriculturally.
“There are several species of rare wildlife in the area, and that too has been totally looked over.
“We plan on getting people from as many villages as possible to join us in our protest next Tuesday.
“We hope to get tractors and wheelbarrows full of the questionnaires to leave them on the doorstep.”
The residents of Quinton are not the only ones against the plans.
The Hunsbury and Collingtree Residents Alliance (HCRA) are particularly concerned at the plan promoted by Bovis Homes to build 2,200 houses on farmland adjoining Collingtree Park Golf Course, land that drains into Wootton Brook and floods regularly.
Fiona Croft, secretary of HCRA, said: “We have been fighting to challenge the WNJPU strategy document but in our case to stop a proposal for a further 2,200 houses on land north of Collingtree village and Collingtree Park and adjacent to the M1.
“Obviously we are also opposed to the Northampton South East 18,000 house proposal but that seems to be getting the headlines while the Northampton South houses are not currently on the radar.
“We have met and communicated with numerous Northampton bodies to raise our concerns on the impact this proposal would have on the existing environment in Collingtree and Collingtree Park.
“The majority of local councillors and existing residents are opposed to building on what is prime agricultural land.
“The bottom line is that there is a large and rapidly growing resistance to the WNJPU Emergent Core Strategy document.
“It must be stopped before large areas of Northampton are destroyed.”
Planning committee chairman Tony Woods said: “One of the key features of these villages is that they offer something different from the urban areas.
“In looking at how to accommodate a growing population, we have to balance overdeveloping the urban areas and not threatening the rural areas as much as we can.
“We have been set government targets but Northampton is going to grow regardless, as it has in the last 20 to 30 years, and we cannot accommodate the growth without development.
“There is no simple answer. We know that the infrastructure in Northampton is not up to scratch and that the sewage system is nearly at capacity.
“These plans are not concrete they are very long term. Some plans will not take effect for another 20 years.”