A rural village could be swamped with up to 20,000 new homes via the back door, councillors have warned.

Thousands of new homes would be built in an eco-town in Ford, near Arundel, if controversial plans are given the green light.

The Government launched proposals for eco-towns earlier this year. They are small, carbon-neutral settlements of between 5,000 and 20,000 homes.

Bognor and Littlehampton have already been earmarked for 11,600 new homes by 2026 in the Draft South East Plan for the Arun area.

If the plans for the eco-town are pushed through, thousands of extra homes would also be built on brownfield land at the former Ford aerodrome next to Ford open prison.

Concerned councillors say the village does not have the road infrastructure to cope with so many new homes.

They also argue that residents are being left out of the loop as eco-town schemes are granted permission in separate stages and are not subject to the same laws which allow the public to be fully involved in the planning process.

While residents have been able to object to sites which councils have allocated for housing in their local plans, eco-towns are not included in the blueprints.

Arun District Council chief executive Ian Sumnall said: "I do not believe the seriousness of such development being allocated in such an arbitrary and unplanned fashion can be over-exaggerated.

"It is being driven solely by the Government's desire for housing delivery policies and ignores the planning process that enables the public to be fully involved.

"The danger is that Arun could be victim of this one-dimensional Government approach. The council needs to oppose the proposal for an eco-town at Ford as vigorously as possible."

Two planning applications have already been submitted for an eco-town at Ford.

The Department for Communities and Local Government is currently considering more than 50 submissions for eco-towns across the country and is expected to announce its decision over the next few weeks.

At the Arun Local Plan Inquiry in 2002, the Environment Agency identified parts of Ford as being in the flood plain.

Other points accepted at the inquiry were that any large development would seriously erode the rural setting of the village, and that sewerage and road systems would be severely stretched.

Ricky Bower, Arun council's cabinet member for planning, said: "Nobody wants to see this sort of development in Ford because there simply isn't the infrastructure to sustain it.

"The Government wants to build new homes by the back door and local democracy doesn't get the chance to have a say.

"We need to fight this and make sure it doesn't happen."

The issue will be discussed at a full council meeting on January 9.

Opponents of the scheme say the increased traffic will cripple the already overloaded A27 route which travels through Arundel.

An Arundel bypass could be introduced sometime after 2016 but by then thousands of the new houses could already be built.

Supporters of the scheme argue eco-towns will relieve the pressure on new housing, which is in short supply in the south-east.

Eco-towns will offer up to 50 per cent affordable housing which is aimed at helping first time buyers get on the property ladder.

Nick Herbert, the MP for Arundel and South Downs, said: "It is true that there is a shortage of new housing in the south east.

"Young buyers are being forced out of the area to get their foot on the property ladder.

"However we have poor road links, and they are downgrading our hospitals so there is a serious infrastructure deficit.

"I don't think we can contemplate large scale development while that deficit remains."

A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "The locations of the new eco towns will be announced early in the New Year.

"All new eco-towns will go through the proper planning process and of course all local councils will be properly involved in that."