Fears have been raised the boundaries between a Norfolk town and a neighbouring village are being blurred by housing development as councillors accused planners of 'starting a war.'

The concerns were raised at a South Norfolk Council cabinet meeting on Monday as councillors from Diss and Roydon argued proposals in the council's development plan to use land between the two urban areas for 42 homes would alter the boundaries and make the two parishes indistinguishable.

Councillor Glyn Walden, who represents Diss, said: 'If this were a script for a Western I would say you sure know how to start a war.

'The whole issue here with regard to Roydon and Diss is not one of sites, but of altering the boundary of the parishes.'

He said further development would be 'too much' for the people of Roydon and suggested the council looked to develop land around Scole instead as the village was closer to Diss railway station.

Cllr David Goldson, who represents Roydon, said 102 homes were already being built at Long Meadow between Diss and Roydon without the extra site to the south of the A1066.

He said: 'There will be 144 houses in Roydon and that is just unacceptable.'

The plan earmarks potential development sites for 200 homes in Diss and has already been through two periods of public consultation.

The latest phase proposed housing land for Diss, Harleston, Hingham, Loddon and Chedgrave and will go to a further public consultation in June.

The results will feed into the Greater Norwich Development Partnership's Joint Core Strategy to build 37,000 new homes in the Norwich area by 2026.

The Long Meadow land is being built on by developer C-Zero, which has re-submitted plans for the land after the original 114 home development when mortgage lenders refused to sanction the discounted market sale agreements for the properties. Only 29 of the homes had been completed.

Paul Kearsay, business improvement manager at the council, revealed the council had not reached its target figure of 855 new homes completed between April 1, 2011 and March 31. The actual total was 174 new homes completed.