Controversial housing plans could go back to the drawing board after the Government unveiled changes to policies on targets for new homes.

Among the schemes that face uncertainty are unpopular proposals to build thousands of homes on greenfield sites near Thurmaston and Barkby, Leicester Forest East, Coalville and Loughborough.

The changes could come because the new coalition Government has pledged to scrap housing targets "parachuted" in on councils from Westminster.

Instead, it will allow local councils to decide themselves how many houses should be built and where.

The change could see the previous Government target of 100,000 homes to be built across Leicestershire, between now and 2026, slashed.

The previous Government also told council planners to earmark land on the edge of existing towns for development. The new regime says it will allow councils more freedom in choosing housing locations.

Campaigners fighting large developments on open countryside across Leicestershire say they hope the new emphasis will lead to the schemes being shelved, or scrapped.

Barkby and Barkby Thorpe Parishes Action Group is against Charnwood Borough Council's preferred option of putting 5,000 homes between their villages and Thurmaston.

Group chairman Owen Bentley said he was cautiously optimistic.

"What we hope will happen is that our council will look again and decide building a large new town for some 15,000 people is not as good an idea as piecemeal development spread around, with different communities sharing the burden," he said.

"We are not against some limited development in the area but it should not be on such a huge scale.

"The councils are not exactly back to square one but they will have to do a lot of rethinking."

Whitwick Action Group is fighting North West Leicestershire District Council's proposal that the greenfield separating it from Coalville should be used for 2,500 homes.

Group spokesman Sue Colledge said: "We have a glimmer of hope but we will not be giving up the fight. We hope there will be a massive reduction in the house building figures."

Campaigns have also been waged against proposals for 3,500 homes next to the M1 between Loughborough and Shepshed and at Leicester Forest East where 4,500 homes could be built by the M1.

The Government has yet to officially change planning legislation but council leaders in Leicestershire are preparing for less binding guidance.

Councillor Mathew Blain, planning spokesman for North West Leicestershire District Council, said: "Of course, we will still have to accommodate some house building but we hope the figure will be smaller than the target (10,000) handed to us."

Charnwood council planning cabinet member David Slater said: "We will have a system where the decisions will be made from the bottom up, rather than imposed from above. That is exactly the right way to do things."

County Council leader David Parsons said: "Communities should have much more say on what happens in their areas and should not have housing targets imposed on them, so I welcome the promised reform of the planning process."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said "The new Government is committed to giving a greater say to people, communities and councils.

"This will include abolishing regional strategies with their centrally imposed housing targets, and ministers are currently considering how best to achieve this."