BNP leader slates eco-town plan

Mr Griffin, a controversial and sometimes hated political figure, toured the area on Tuesday.

Two rival consortia have submitted bids to the government for 5,000 homes to be built on part of Ford Airfield and the surrounding countryside close to Yapton as part of a national campaign for 'green' settlements.

But Mr Griffin said the current eco-town scheme was a farce. "We are all for the environment and ecology. But there is nothing environmentally friendly about putting a town in the middle of the countryside," he stated.

"There's plenty of scope in all the major cities, such as Portsmouth and Southampton, for eco-towns to be built on brownfield (previously used) sites.

"The big developers are sitting on thousands of acres which have planning permission to be developed. But they are allowed to hoard that land. That is the land which should be used to leave the countryside as the green and pleasant area it should be.

"The eco-town is going to be blot in the middle of the countryside with none of the infrastructure such as roads and transport. There is nothing ecological at all about about allowing a group of middle class refugees to live in a nice community to themselves.

"It's just an excuse for that to happen because they are afraid to live in the towns and cities where they have come from. If those places are unhabitable, because people are in fear living there, the answer is to have proper law and order."

Mr Griffin said the need for extra housing arose from an influx of immigration.

"Our natural population is declining, which we think is a good thing, because we don't want to be conquering the world. We would like to see our population go down to 30-40million. If it was that, we would have no need for all this new housing."

Watch the video interview with Mr Griffin, click here