PROTESTERS shouted, horns sounded and there were cries of "rubbish" as Planning Minister Nick Boles faced public questions in Derbyshire yesterday.
Mr Boles – who has caused controversy with plans to build on 2% to 3% of the UK's undeveloped land – told people at Waingroves Methodist Hall he did not "want development at any price".
He suggested how campaign groups could get more protection for their cherished green areas.
But his views were mostly rejected by the crowd of more than 40 Amber Valley residents who came to quiz him.
Amber Valley, where Waingroves lies, is a hotbed of planning controversy, with the borough council aiming for 9,400 homes to be built between 2008 and 2028.
Permission was recently granted for up to 360 homes at Coppice Farm, Waingroves, which campaigners say would double the size of the village.
Some accuse the Tory-led council of political bias by giving the go-ahead to more homes in traditional Labour areas to the east of the borough.
As cars honked approval for the protest outside, Mr Boles suggested ways people could affect the planning process, including asking for areas of land to be designated as green space.
He also called for more parish and town councils to draw up "neighbourhood plans" to say what they would like to happen to land in their communities.
But local campaigners rubbished his points. George Soudah, an independent Swanwick parish councillor, said green space designation would need to offer more "robust" protection before he believed it would work.
He said: "The land between Swanwick, Alfreton and Somercotes was designated protected open land but that was overturned by a planning inspector and a crematorium was built."
Asked outside the meeting if people would have to accept building on green space, Mr Boles said: "In the whole of the country, 8.9% of land is developed and 91% isn't.
"We can do a lot with brownfield sites but there will need to be some undeveloped land used for house-building. The most important thing is for local people to get involved with helping the local authority to produce its local plan and then, if possible, for neighbourhood plans to be drawn up."
Protester Rachel Brown, 40, of Codnor, was outside with signs saying things like "Waingroves, Murdered by AVBC, 2013, R.I.P."
She said: "90% of drivers who passed by sounded their horn in support."
Council leader Stuart Bradford said the authority was "not unfair" to the east of the borough. He said: "We give planning permission where houses are needed. In the recent past, that has included 600 homes in Mackworth."
