“The last time I saw an audience this big in here I was on stage,” said Alton mayor, Cllr Annette Eyre, to the heaving crowd in The Assembly Rooms at the beginning of a marathon meeting.

Although extra chairs were brought in to accommodate the crowds there was standing room only with more than 150 attending as the Neighbourhood Plan, steering group and town council faced a litmus test.

Jerry Janes and Ginny Boxall, of the Holybourne Village Association and EHDC, respectively, were the first to speak after an opening “prayer for the community”, with the former questioning the integrity of the steering group, and the latter touching upon the absence of north Alton sites in the plan.

The public were given an hour to speak in total, with Sara Whitwell becoming their de-facto chair for her impassioned pleas not to build on Windmill Hill and her consistent calls for “all sites” to be included in the plan and not a select few.

“I can’t bear to see more houses built in Alton, we’ve had more than our fair share – you can’t and should not build on Windmill Hill,” she said to rapturous applause.

“In my plan the draft plan misrepresents feedback from the community,” said Paul Fitzgibbon, from Holybourne, adding: “In my opinion this is a really serious issue because you’re drawing the process into disrepute.”

Another resident said: “Sometimes it feels that voices aren’t being heard – instead of them and us, it would be great if it was just us.”