HOTLY opposed plans to expand an east Dorset village by more than 50 per cent and another by 700 homes are to go before a public inquiry next month.

People living in West Parley and Corfe Mullen have loudly opposed plans put forward by the South West Regional Assembly (SWRA) to build the homes to try to tackle the county's housing problems.

Residents in West Parley say 900 homes in green belt land on the edge of the village would swamp the existing 1,600 houses and turn it into little more than a suburb of Bournemouth.

Representatives from the parish council will travel to Exeter in April to put forward their case in front of the SWRA, along with their counterparts from Corfe Mullen, where 700 homes are planned.

Richard Heaslip, chairman of the West Parley Residents Association said: "It will be a case of people power winning out, or not, whatever happens we will be making a big thing of it."

The proposed developments are part of the draft regional spatial strategy, which has identified the need for 5,400 new homes to be built in East Dorset by 2011, with a further 800 homes being put forward for Wimborne.

The plans caused an outcry when they were revealed last year and have also failed to win the support of the district council, with the exception of 200 homes to replace allotments at Cuthbury Gardens in Wimborne.

Residents of West Parley turned out in force to a meeting held in the village at the end of February when the results of a survey sent to all households revealed a massive 98 per cent of villagers who responded were against the plan.

MP Chris Chope has pledged his support to residents and, speaking after the meeting, said: "It is our job as elected politicians to see that the will of the people prevails, not the will of the bureaucrats."

The examination in public of the draft regional spatial strategy being held by the SWRA will start in Exeter on April 17, looking at proposed developments across the region.