A survey of Sundon Park residents showed hardly any were in favour of 'urban extensions' of thousands of homes around Luton, the Conservatives say.

Plans for housing growth being pursued by Luton Borough Council include 4,000 new homes to the north of the town.

But the Tory candidate for the Luton North constituency, Jeremy Brier, says that out of 1,000 people recently surveyed in the Sundon Park area, just 34 were in favour of the scheme. And just over 50 said they approved of the plans for the Luton Northern Bypass.

He said: "Local residents are adamant that the green fields surrounding Sundon Park are far too precious to lose and any attempts to do so will be strongly opposed by Luton Conservatives.

"I'm all for redeveloping brownfield sites and the town centre – but not for trampling over our precious natural spaces.

"David Cameron has promised that the Conservatives will kill off all of John Prescott's top-down housing targets set by John Prescott in 2002."