Minister should find out for herself

Cllr Field said: "If Caroline Flint (the minister for planning and housing) thinks this is what the majority of local residents wants, then she is living in cuckoo land.

"I suggest she visits this area and gets a bird's eye view of it."

He claimed Ford's selection would please very few people.

"No doubt the news of Ford being shortlisted for an ecotown will please the landowners who want to sell their farmland to developers and other people who live outside the area and have no interest in Ford whatsoever," he commented.

"In my opinion, it makes a mockery of the statement by this present government, when they were elected, that they would listen to the views of local residents."