Villagers in rural Bedfordshire will take part in a march on Saturday, September 21, to protest against plans to build an eco-town in the Marston Vale.

The demonstration will begin at Marston Vale Village Hall at 10am, and protesters will march along the A421, and then back to the village along Beancroft Road.

Traffic on the A421 will be halted by police during the march, which has been organised by the Marston Moretaine Eco-Town Action Group (MMETAG).

Mid Beds MP Nadine Dorries is expected to attend, having lent her support to opponents of the plans.

Proposals to build an eco-town in the heart of Mid Bedfordshire have proved highly controversial since they were first revealed in April.
The county is one of 13 sites shortlisted for development, after the Government completed the first of two rounds of consultation.

Its proposals would see 15,000-plus new homes being built on greenfield and brownfield land by 2020, at a development called Marston Vale.

Previous plans to build a second new eco-town in the same area, called New Marston, have been dropped. But when Caroline Flint, the minister of state for housing and planning, met members of Lidlington Action Group in June, she was forced to "run for cover" as protesters showed their displeasure.

Two weeks ago the Times & Citizen reported that residents had been told by O&H Properties that their homes could be subject to compulsory purchase orders to make way for the scheme. O&H Properties denied this, but the allegation was repeated in the letters page of the following week's edition.