A group campaigning against the overdevelopment of Baldock is determined to carry on its fight, despite being labelled Nimbys by a national newspaper.

Save Rural Baldock, or ‘the Nimbys who could thwart George Osborne’s plan to build a million homes’ according to a Daily Mail story last week, remain resolute that the building of 3,591 houses in Baldock by 2031 would ‘crush’ the community.

The homes could be built as part of the North Herts Local Plan, a blueprint of 14,200 homes which goes before North Herts District Council on January 21.

Save Rural Baldock’s Stephen Proops said: “We are not Nimbys.

“We fully expect and welcome our fair share of new houses in Baldock.

“We will try to work with the district council to ensure that they are built as sympathetically as possible to minimise the negative impact on the town and create new communities with the opportunity to integrate with the town they are deemed to be a part of.

“What we are against is building so many houses in one place that it crushes the community and threatens its livelihood.

“This was the case with the preferred option paper issued by the district council last year.

“We hope that the district council will have taken on board the comments that local people have made and we look forward to seeing the revised plan in the new year.

“We understand that the district council is now looking at the possibility of establishing a new settlement in the area, where community needs can be more fully addressed in the future.

“We welcome this move. However it is a great pity that it will not be in time to satisfy existing housing targets and we wonder why the council did not foresee that this would be a requirement before taking their current proposal to public consultation.”

The district council is now in the process of analysing the response to the Local Plan preferred options paper from 8,500 individuals, businesses and developers.

Councillor David Levett, who is responsible for planning at the district council, said: “We have had a fantastic response and we are very grateful to everyone who took the time to provide comments.

“We can now give those comments our full and careful consideration and review our proposed policies to ensure that we have a Local Plan that can deliver the homes, jobs and infrastructure needed for our children and grandchildren.”

To view the representations visit www.north-herts.gov.uk and search for ‘Local Plan preferred options’.