THE public has until February 12 to give its comments on how Redbridge goes about squeezing up to 9,000 new homes into the borough over the next ten years.

With intense pressure from the Mayor of London to find living space for London's growing population, Redbridge Council has published its latest plans for protecting the area.

Called the Local Development Framework (LDF), the document outlines the council's proposed planning policies and the ways in which they plan to consult the public.

Concerns were raised at a meeting of the council's area two committee over how the degree of protection given to individual pieces of land has changed.

Monkhams ward councillor, Jim O'Shea said: "Members of the public were concerned about Broadmead Road playing fields and the allotments at Chigwell Road and why they had been downgraded.

"We explained that the categories had changed and only those areas that will never ever be touched go into category one.

"Anything that was ever built on category two must be for community use such as doctors surgeries, medical centres or schools but under no circumstances would there be residential development or commercial or retail."

Roding ward Cllr Ian Bond said: "The bottom line is that the local area is taking a huge number of extra properties in South Woodford. A lot of them are flats and they are going to put a lot more pressure on local services.

"The way the council is raising money is by selling things and not taking a balanced view and I think they were looking at the possibility of selling the allotments in the Chigwell Road but they seem to be backtracking on that through public pressure."

Originally, the Mayor demanded the council find space for 16,000 new homes in the period from 2007 to 2017 but after negotiations with the council he has reduced the number to 9,000. The council is holding out for 8,000 and this is the figure that is currently in the LDF.

After public consultation the document will be submitted to the Mayor but he has the power to ask the Government to appoint an inspector to requisition sites in the borough if he thinks the council has not found enough.

The full document can be viewed on the council's website at www.redbridge.gov.uk