PLANS to protect John Betjeman's former house from potential future development have been opposed by the couple who now live there.

Ralph and Sue Cobham say they were never consulted about the plans to classify their land as "Green Open Space" in the Wantage Neighbourhood Plan, despite the fact they helped create the document.

The husband and wife, who have lived at the Poet Laureate's former house The Meade for 40 years, say the protective status, akin to Green Belt designation, could affect their insurance and would imply to tourists their private garden is public.

Not only have they taken care of the property and say they have no plans to develop the land around it, Mr Cobham was also instrumental in creating the John Betjeman Memorial Park just ten feet away from their garden – a purpose-built, wildlife-friendly green space which celebrates the poet's life.

The Cobhams were among several Wantage landowners whose gardens and fields were slapped with protected status without their consultation in the draft neighbourhood plan, which designates land use in the area.

They hit out at a public examination of the plan in Wantage last week by a Government planning inspector who will ultimately decide whether the document is legally sound.

Mr Cobham, a retired Environmental Consultant and fellow of the Landscape Institute, told the inspector that part of his land which was designated for Green Open Space status was a private orchard next to the house, entirely hidden from public view.

Much of the rest of it is picturesque fields on which their horses graze next to leafy public footpaths.

Mr Cobham also said the whole of The Mead is already protected by being in Wantage Conservation Area and he could not see any protection that the new status would offer.

He said: "This is the first occasion my wife and I have had to express our concerns about the designation publicly.

"We thought the whole process was supposed to be thoroughly open, but there has been no evidence to substantiate the opinions, which I respect, from the neighbourhood plan group.

"I don't see data on wildlife or historic value, not just for my site but as a generality."

However he concluded: "We are supportive of the conservation: nobody in their right sense would seek to develop these fields to the east of my house."

Among the other objectors was a charitable trust from Buckland whose trustees want to sell a green field east of Grove Road to pay for repairs to their village church.

Charlton landowner David Castle, meanwhile, said his private woodland, which neighbourhood planners want to protect, could not be seen from any public highway.

Neighbourhood plan steering group chairwoman Julie Mabberley said she had let all the landowners know about plans to include their fields by email the day after the decision was taken in December.

She said: "We are trying to protect, for the value of the community, green infrastructure in Wantage.

"Some of those pieces of land are private land that we 'borrow' because they provide a beautiful view or wildlife habitat.

"We are trying to preserve these spaces for future generations."