There was uproar today after plans to build 25,900 homes in Sussex over the next five years were given the go-ahead.

Ministers refused to back down over the content of a planning blueprint for the region despite a massive campaign to save the countryside.

Local planners wanted a housebuilding target of 33,000 homes a year for five years in the South East.

But Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott last night announced a final total of 39,000 a year, including 5,180 in Sussex.

Last year he scaled down his total from 43,000 but was unwilling to reduce it further.

Under the plans, 2,290 homes will be built each year in East Sussex for five years, while West Sussex gets 2,890.

The South East Regional Planning Conference wanted only 1,873 new homes in East Sussex and 2,270 in West Sussex.

Protesters fear greenfield sites will be swallowed up and the Sussex countryside will be ruined, with roads and schools unable to cope with an increase in population.

Planning Minister Nick Raynsford insisted ministers had listened to the views of protesters.

But the minister said: "In the light of the divergent views expressed on the individual county figures, and in the absence of any consistent regional rationale to justify a new distribution, the proposal has not been changed."

Tories, who had called for further reductions in the proposals, went on the attack. Archie Norman, Shadow Environment Secretary, said: "This is proof that Labour are out of touch with Middle England."

He added: "They clearly have learnt nothing from the recent floods. Concreting over greenfields removes the land's ability to absorb water, making floods more frequent and more widespread."

Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson, who is also Shadow Minister for Housing, said: "These plans to concrete over the countryside will cause dismay for local people in villages and towns across the South East and especially in East Sussex."

Francis Maude, Conservative MP for Horsham, said: "We are already facing the prospect of huge increases in West Sussex and we are already a highly-developed county.

"I think there will be a massive backlash to this."

Alistair Robson, assistant director of transport and environment for East Sussex County Council said: "We are concerned these figures will inevitably mean more greenfield development, not only for housing but also to provide the jobs and infrastructure they will require."