Hertsmere planners this week urged the county council to lower its target for the number of new homes which should be built in the borough in the next 14 years.

Hertfordshire County Council is currently drawing up a new Structure Plan, which will outline how many homes should be constructed in each district up to 2016.

It has proposed that Hertsmere could accommodate 3,800, although the borough council claims this target would be difficult to achieve without using Green Belt land.

Every district council in Hertfordshire has objected to the house-building targets the county council is proposing to set for them, arguing that they are too high.

Hertsmere's head of planning, Richard Grove, said a target higher than 3,000 was inappropriate for a borough which had little space available in its towns.

"An area like Hertsmere would struggle to cope with any increase in its housing provision," he said.

Currently around 230 homes need to be built in the borough each year, although this is being achieved with the help of several large housing developments.

The county's proposed figure would bring the annual target up to 250, and there are fears that there may not be the same opportunities for building in the future.

The county council has suggested that a total of 62,000 homes could be built in Hertfordshire up to 2016, although the Government does not expect more than 49,200.

Labour county councillor Brian York, who represents Borehamwood South, claimed the Conservative-led council should reduce the 62,000 figure.

Although he agreed that the new homes should go in towns rather than in fields, Mr York said he was worried about the effects of so much development.

"The Labour group's view is that you cannot just keep cramming people into towns," he said.

"We want an environmental assessment to look at what this will do to the infrastructure, in terms of transport, traffic, schools and community facilities."

The council's Conservative group has claimed that it does not intend to allow any more than the 49,200 homes required by the Government to be built.

Hertsmere's target could be affected by the council's decision on whether it should permit the building of 5,000 homes on fields west of Stevenage.

Planners from the district councils met with county officials to discuss the targets yesterday, and a draft of the Structure Plan is likely to be published in the Spring.