At a meeting on Monday attended by around 50 members of the public, the council's planning committee agreed to recommend to the full council that it object to Lord Derby's development plan on the grounds that the houses were not needed and that the damage that would be done to the racing industry, on which many of the town's residents depended, would far outweigh the 'perceived' benefits to the town.

Cllr Richard Fletcher, chairman of the committee explained that its discussions were not pre-empting any decision made by the planning inspector following his inquiry into Forest Heath Council's long term plans for development across the district during which he considered the Hatchfield Farm site, but were running 'parallel' to save time.The inspector's decision is expected early in April.

Speaking at Monday's meeting, Jacko Fanshawe, wife of Newmarket trainer James Fanshawe said traffic levels already made riding horses in Newmarket's Fordham and Snailwell Roads extremely dangerous and additional homes built at Hatchfield Farm would only make it worse.

"The infrastructure for horses in this part of town is inadequate.

There is no horsewalk on the Snailwell Road and the one on Fordham Road is not wide enough, If Hatchfield Farm goes ahead it will kill the industry."

And Newmarket resident Derek Nottley said the Hatchfield Farm proposal would be "a carbuncle on the far side of Newmarket."

"What we need is a public inquiry to find out what is going on in Newmarket to accommodate this scale of development," he said.

Rachel Hood, chairman of the Save Historic Newmarket Action Group, said: "You have only got to look at the problems being faced in Red Lodge to see what happens when you build lots of houses without the proper infrastructure in place.

Hatchfield Farm is a greenfield site and there are lots of brownfield sites that could be developed."

Derby winning trainer John Gosden said: "This development is being done for profit and nothing else and I don't think Lord Derby will see it through.

I think he will sell to a developer and clear out as quick as he can.

"But Bob Sellwood, representing Lord Derby insisted he intended disposing of the site in phases. "He is not here for cutting and running," he said.

"Newmarket may be special but it's not an island, It cannot detach itself from the world around it."