SOUTH Buckinghamshire and other local councils are wasting the countryside by allowing large housing developments to be built on prime land.

New Government data, published by countryside group the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), names councils that are not using land efficiently.

These findings come at a time when the Government is believed to be making changes to its national planning policy on housing. This policy has helped to regenerate towns and cities while conserving countryside.

But CPRE fears this programme may be radically revised by forcing councils to release extra land if local house prices rise beyond a certain point.

CPRE believes this would put more countryside at risk. Kate Gordon, CPRE's national planning officer said: "It would be a huge mistake to use market triggers to decide when, where and how much housing development should take place."

There are 33 rural local authorities where not enough dwellings per hectare are built according to policy guidelines. South Buckinghamshire is one of these councils. The recommended number is 20 dwellings per hectare South Buckinghamshire builds on average 14. This leads to unused sites not being developed upon at the expense of the countryside.