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The Council needs to find space for 8,500 new homes in Charnwood area of Leicestershire.

 Although no definite decisions have been made, land east of Thurmaston looks like being a favoured location for development.

The village of Barkby consists of twelve old, red brick houses. It's a picturesque and historic village and its inhabitants do not want it destroyed.

Owen Bentley heads the action group formed to fight the corner of the village.

He says: "Virtually a new small town is being proposed between Barkby, Barkbythorpe, Thurmason and the Hamilton development. This is a lovely rural enclave, a lovely bit of old Leicestershire."

In particular, the villagers are concerned that the whole character of the village will be destroyed. The edge of the Hamilton development ca already be seen from the village and its roads are used as rat runs, increasing the volume of traffic.

Listen: The Fight for Barkby

Owen Bentley speaks to BBC Leicester's Bridget Blair about the group's concerns.

"We are still separate," says Owen. "But any further development just seems to be the end of us."

Farming would also be under threat. There are three working  farms in the village. "If the development goes through I can't see much hope for farming," says Owen

Feelings in Thurmaston are also running high.

Mike and Lynn Westwood run the Thurmaston Times, the local community newspaper.

Lynn says that there is good community feeling in the village and  the new development would destroy this by doubling its size.

Mike complains about the vagueness of the proposals. The lack of detail, he says, makes it difficult to comment.

He says: "People round here are friendly and they talk to one another. These characteristics will be lost if the development goes ahead."

Listen: The Council's View

BBC Leicester's Ben Jackson spoke to Councillor Richard Shepherd who's the leader of Charnwood Borough Council about the proposals.

He says: "There's a lot more work to be done and no decision has been made."

Councillor Richard Shepherd puts the view of Charnwood Council.

He wants elected members to keep an open mind. "I do hope no elected member has said that their mind is closed and have said they will vote for or against any option."

They must, he says, look at the evidence.

"The assurances I can give are that the officers will do more research, every elected member will have a vote on the report and more consultation will take place."

But Councillor Shepherd's comments make clear that perhaps evidence and consultation carry different weights.

He adds: "We have to look at the evidence and not simply at the particular volume of evidence."