East Hampshire is facing an unwelcome Christmas housing warning after neighbouring councils said they cannot meet their own Government building targets.

Portsmouth City Council, Gosport Borough Council and Havant Borough Council say they cannot find enough suitable sites to meet their housing targets and have formally asked other Hampshire councils, including EHDC, to take on part of their shortfall.

East Hampshire is already required to find sites for more than 15,000 homes on land outside the South Downs National Park.

Cllr Richard Millard, EHDC Leader, said: “Christmas may be the season of goodwill to all men and women but East Hampshire is not a development dumping ground.

“It is our legal duty to look carefully at the unmet needs of other councils as they have asked us to do. But make no mistake, we will put East Hampshire first in every decision we make.

“Delivering the homes our communities need remains one of the most significant challenges facing local authorities across the country. Government housing targets set ambitious expectations, but they do not always reflect the unique circumstances of individual areas.”

A recent study has helped to split the overall housing figure between East Hampshire and the South Downs National Park, suggesting the district’s share would be at least 832 homes a year — less than previously expected. However, this figure could rise again if East Hampshire is required to help meet unmet needs from neighbouring authorities.

East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds also backed the call to resist pressure to build more homes.

He said: “EHDC is right to have sought a legal basis to disaggregate housing target numbers between the parts of the district inside and outside the National Park.”

He said that as around 26 percent of existing East Hampshire housing is in the South Downs National Park, EHDC would assume that 26 percent of the district’s future housing target would fall to the National Park Authority, leaving a target of around 830 homes a year outside the Park, rather than 1,100.

Mr Hinds said the National Park Authority could still ask EHDC to take more of its share under duty to cooperate rules, but said growing settlements proportionately inside and outside the Park was “the fair and right way to do it”.

He said there had also been requests from nearby councils for East Hampshire to take on some of their housing requirements, but added: “in my view, it is not viable for our area to take on further large numbers of houses from elsewhere”. He said that “while many councils have been given higher targets by the new government, East Hampshire’s increase is particularly high: it has doubled.”

He added: “We all recognise that we need more homes, especially homes affordable and accessible to local families.

“But being required by the new target to add so many thousands of homes over the next couple of decades, already threatens the character of our area and puts strain on infrastructure and services.

“We cannot take on further large numbers from neighbouring boroughs.

“The root problem is the unreasonably and unrealistically high level of the target we’ve been set by the Government.”

Greg Stafford MP, whose Farnham and Bordon constituency falls partly in East Hampshire, also spoke out about the housing targets.

He said:“Labour’s housing targets are detached from reality. You cannot impose centrally dreamed-up numbers on communities already straining at the seams. Roads, healthcare, schools, utilities - none of it can cope with what ministers are now demanding.

“Our area is already taking an exceptionally high level of development. The idea that we should also absorb housing numbers displaced from neighbouring authorities is simply unsustainable.

“Yes, councils must meet their legal duty to cooperate - but that cannot mean East Hampshire is forced to shoulder the consequences of failures elsewhere. Constraints in one authority should not translate into permanent pressure on ours.

“We do need more homes, especially genuinely affordable homes for local families. But targets that ignore infrastructure, capacity and local character will never deliver sustainable communities.

“Just weeks ago, I pressed the Minister directly on this. He conceded there is an “evidential issue” in how housing is divided between the National Park and the surrounding districts. Recognition without action, however, solves nothing - and time is running out as councils try to avoid punitive measures for missing targets.

“What we are seeing here, and across the country, is displacement dressed up as delivery.”

The next public consultation on the Local Plan is expected to take place in summer 2026. After that, it will be scrutinised by a Government-appointed planning inspector at a public hearing in 2027.