A county councillor has warned there are "problems down the line" if planning rules in Northumberland are not changed to allow more new life into small rural communities.
Coun Richard Dodd called for planning reform in the county after new figures revealed many of the county's rural schools have low numbers of pupils, causing them to struggle financially and putting them at risk of closure.
Coun Dodd, who represents the Ponteland North ward for the Conservative Party, hit out at so-called "nimbys" - which stands for 'not in my backyard' and refers to members of the public who object to planning applications.
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Speaking at Thursday's meeting of Northumberland County Council's family and children's services overview and scrutiny committee, Coun Dodd said: "There is a problem coming down the line. Longframlington has had 350 new houses, Amble has got 1,300 in the pipeline.
"If we could just spread that stuff a little bit around the county, because a lot of these villages are dying. This really is a problem.
"We're coming to the local plan review. We've got the greenbelt which is a blunt instrument. It's not sustainable in the longer term, we're going to have to do something.
"When somebody says they're going to build the houses, out comes the committee to oppose them, the nimbys and their armies with their petitions and their letters and everything.
"At one time farm cottages used to be full of farm workers and their families who went to the local school, but now they're holiday cottages. You see things like second homes too.
"It's a little chip, chip, chip but it's had a fantastic effect of killing off things. We've seen West Woodburn School close and more are coming down the line.
"We need to build all kinds of houses that people can afford, not with all the palaver that goes with it, but just cheaper houses. It can be done.
"Otherwise, we, or someone, is going to be sitting here in 10 years time and we will have a list of schools that will have to close. We have some difficult choices to make and we're probably not going to be popular in a number of places."
The figures released by the county council showed significant surplus places in some of the most rural parts of the county. For example, in the Haydon Bridge partnership, there were 425 (33%) surplus places in primary schools, 169 (70%) in the only middle school at Bellingham, and 495 (55%) in Haydon Bridge High School.
In the Berwick partnership, there were 466 (32%) in first schools, 264 (25%) in middle schools and 393 (43%) in high schools. Across Northumberland, there were 9,072 surplus places in schools and academies.
The report said that "where the number of surplus places within a school begins to impact on the ability of the school to provide a broad and balanced curriculum in terms of staffing levels, as well as maintain, heat, light and clean the school building, then it can be detrimental to the educational experience of children and can threaten the viability and sustainability of individual schools."
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